Felt bees

Felt bees
	Heath felt bee ( Epeolus cruciger ) from North Wales
Systematics
Order :	Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily :	Apoidea
without rank:	Bees (Apiformes)
Family :	Real bees (Apidae)
Subfamily :	Nomadinae
Genre :	Felt bees
Scientific name
	Epeolus
	Latreille , 1802

The felt bees ( Epeolus and Triepeolus ) are two genera from the Apidae family . Since there is only one species of Triepeolus in Central Europe , the German name mainly relates to the species of Epeolus . The bees of both genera are breeding parasites (cuckoo bees), so they do not build their own nests.

The genus Epeolus is very widespread, it occurs on all continents except Antarctica and Australia. There are 35 known species in the Palearctic . 43 species occur in North America.

features

The native felt bees have a squat shape, their abdomen has conspicuous felt-like spots with white hair attached to it (hence the German name). The body is predominantly black, the legs usually completely or partially red. In females, too, is usually tag (scutellum) reddish, sometimes the abdominal segments. The males have 4 to 5 lash-like bristles on the abdominal segments. The scutellum has a tooth on both sides in males and females. The felt bees are approx. 5 to 13 mm long.

behavior

Since felt bees are brut parasitic, they only visit flowers to provide themselves with nectar. They are not picky about this, they visit flowers of all kinds. Felt bees are active from July to September. They lay their eggs in the nests of silk bees ( colletes ) where they develop.

Systematics

The genus Epeolus is closely related to the genus Triepeolus , which is particularly common in the New World. The two genera belong in the subfamily Nomadinae to the tribe Epeolini. This tribe contains eight genera, of which Epeolus and Triepeolus (with more than 140 species) are the most species-rich. The other genera are: Doeringiella (35 species), Odyneropsis (14), Pseudepeolus (5), Rhinepeolus (1), Rhogepeolus (5), Thalestria (1).

Triepeolus tristis (black felt bee) is placed in the genus Epeolus by some authors, but it belongs to Triepeolus .

Native species

After, see also

Epeolus alpinus (D, A, CH)
Epeolus cruciger heather felt bee (D, A, CH)
Epeolus fasciatus (A, historical evidence)
Epeolus productulus (A detected in Burgenland since 1999, CH Valais)
Epeolus schummeli (D Brandenburg, A Lower Austria and Burgenland)
Epeolus tarsalis (A historical evidence)
Epeolus variegatus common felt bee (D, A, C)
Epeolus fallax ( D )
Epeolus schummeli steppe felt bee ( D )

North American species:

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b E. Scheuchl & W. Willner: Pocket dictionary of wild bees in Central Europe . Quelle & Meyer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 , pp. 379-384 .
↑ ^a ^b Thomas M. Onuferko: A revision of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Epeolus Latreille for Nearctic species, north of Mexico (Hymenoptera, Apidae) . In: ZooKeys . tape 755 , August 5, 2018, ISSN 1313-2970 , p. 1–185 , doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.755.23939 ( pensoft.net [accessed July 14, 2019]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Paul Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 216, 695-698 .
↑ Ch. D. Michener: Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore and London 2007.
↑ Hans Bischoff: Contribution to the knowledge of Palearctic species of the genus Epeolus. (Hym. Apid.) . In: German Entomological Journal . No. 1 , 1930, p. 1–15 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
↑ Molly G. Rightmyer: A review of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Triepeolus (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Part I . In: Zootaxa . No. 1710 , 2008, p. 1-170 .
↑ Felix Amiet, Mike Herrmann, Andreas Müller: Apidae. 5. In: Fauna Helvetica . tape 20 . Swiss Entomological Society, Neuchatel 2007, ISBN 978-2-88414-032-4 .

[:2-1] E. Scheuchl & W. Willner: Pocket dictionary of wild bees in Central Europe . Quelle & Meyer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 , pp. 379-384 .

[:1-2] Thomas M. Onuferko: A revision of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Epeolus Latreille for Nearctic species, north of Mexico (Hymenoptera, Apidae) . In: ZooKeys . tape 755 , August 5, 2018, ISSN 1313-2970 , p. 1–185 , doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.755.23939 ( pensoft.net [accessed July 14, 2019]).

[:0-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Paul Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 216, 695-698 .

[4] Ch. D. Michener: Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore and London 2007.

[5] Hans Bischoff: Contribution to the knowledge of Palearctic species of the genus Epeolus. (Hym. Apid.) . In: German Entomological Journal . No. 1 , 1930, p. 1–15 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).

[6] Molly G. Rightmyer: A review of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Triepeolus (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Part I . In: Zootaxa . No. 1710 , 2008, p. 1-170 .

[7] Felix Amiet, Mike Herrmann, Andreas Müller: Apidae. 5. In: Fauna Helvetica . tape 20 . Swiss Entomological Society, Neuchatel 2007, ISBN 978-2-88414-032-4 .