Melittidae

Melittidae
Melitta nigricans male
Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera) Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita) Superfamily : Apoidea Bees (Apiformes) Family : Melittidae
Scientific name
Melittidae
Michener , 2000
Subfamilies
Meganomiinae Melittinae Dasypodainae

The Melittidae is a small family of bees . About 200 species and 14 genera are known. All species are solitary and nest in the ground. Many of the species are oligolectic, that is, they specialize in certain types of plants. A peculiarity of the Melittidae is that "collecting oil" occurs in this family. Species of the genera Rediviva and Macropis have special hairs on the front and middle legs with which they collect oil, which the larvae deposit in the nests for pollen as food. The oil comes from flowers, e.g. B. of Lysimachia , in elaiophores secrete oil. An extinct species ( Paleomacropis eocenicus ) that was found in amber also had hair that was probably used to collect oil.

features

The Melittidae are similar to the Andrenidae . They are short-tongued bees and leg collectors like these . Unlike most Andrenidae, however, they have reduced scopae on the femur to the coxa . The scopae lie on the tibia and basitarsus . The Melittidae generally have quite short, pointed tongues and unspecialized labial palps , the first two limbs of which are quite short. Their middle coxae are similar to those of the long-tongued bees. There is no characteristic that is common to all Melittidae and cannot be found in any other bee family. The Meganomiinae are large species over 17 mm.

distribution

The species of the family are Palearctic and common in southern Africa . The greatest diversity is found in southern Africa. The family is rare in North America, only Hesperapis is quite common here in the western United States and Mexico. Species of Dasypodainae and Melittinae occur in the Palearctic area. The Meganomiinae are restricted to Africa. No Melittidae are known in South America, Australia and Antarctica.

Systematics

External system

The systematic position of the Melittidae is not yet clearly understood. Traditionally and by several authors, they are regarded as the sister group of the "long-tongued bees" (see also cladogram below). There are molecular biological studies according to which the Melittidae represent the most basic bee family, i.e. the sister group of all other bees, and it is discussed whether the Melittidae are monophyletic.

Anthophila bees	long-tongued bees  Apidae     Megachilidae     Melittidae  short-tongued bees  Halictidae narrow and furrow bees ˜     Colletidae     Stenotritidae     Andrenidae

Internal system

The following is the internal system of the Melittidae according to Michez et al. (2009).

Melittidae

Meganomiinae  Ceratomonia Michener, 1981, Namibia     Meganomia Cockerell, 1909, Ethiopia     Pseudophilanthus Alfken, 1939, East Africa (including Madagascar)     Uromonia Michener, 1981, East Africa (including Madagascar)  Melittinae   Macropini  Promelitta Warncke, 1977, North Africa     Afrodasypoda Engel, 2005, South Africa     Macropis Klug, 1906, Holarctic  Melttini  Rediviva Friese, 1911, South Africa     Redivivoides Michener, 1981, South Africa     Sawhorn bees ( Melitta Kirby, 1802), Holarctic and Africa  Dasypodainae   Hesperapini  Eremaphanta Popov, 1940, Central Asia     Capicola Friese, 1911, South Africa     Hesperapis Cockerell, 1898, near-table  Dasypodaini  Haplomelitta Cockerell, 1934, South Africa     Dasypoda Latreille, 1802, Palearctic     Samba friezes, 1908, Kenya

• 

  Meganomia sp.

• 

  Haplomelitta ogilviei

• 

  Macropis europaea

• 

  Melitta haemorrhoidalis

• 

  Dasypoda hirtipes

• 

  Samba sp.

• 

  Rediviva sp.

• 

  Promelitta sp.

• 

  Eremephanta sp.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} John Plant & Hannes F. Paulus : Evolution and phylogeny of bees review and cladistic analysis in light of morphological evidence (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) . Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-510-55048-7 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Denis Michez, Sébastien Patiny, Bryan N. Danforth (2009): Phylogeny of the bee family Melittidae (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) based on combined molecular and morphological data. Systematic Entomology 34: 574-597. [1]
3. ↑ Ch. D. Michener: Bees of the World . 2007, ISBN 978-0-8018-8573-0 , pp. 972 ( com.ua [PDF]).

Web links

• Bees of the World