Melecta festiva
| Melecta festiva | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melecta festiva | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1804) |
Melecta festiva is a bee from the family of Apidae . The species lookssimilar to Melecta luctuosa .
features
The bees are 13 to 15 millimeters long. The females are hairy white on the face, on the first tergite , the spots on the thorax and the first to fifth tergite as well as the rails ( tibia ), otherwise they are hairy black. The pygidial plate is expanded circularly. More than half of the rails of the rear legs are hairy white. The males look similar to the females, but on the rails of the middle legs and the heel members (metatarsus) of the rear legs they are almost completely hairy white. The antennae are basal with a recess.
Occurrence and way of life
The species is distributed from Tunisia, across southern Europe to the Ukraine, Turkey and Israel. The animals fly from late April to early July. In which the species parasitized as a cuckoo bee is unknown.
supporting documents
Felix Amiet, M. Herrmann, A. Müller, R. Neumeyer: Fauna Helvetica 20: Apidae 5 . Center Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune, 2007, ISBN 978-2-88414-032-4 .