Rail bees

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rail bees
Pseudapis nilotica in the United Arab Emirates

Pseudapis nilotica in the United Arab Emirates

Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily : Apoidea
without rank: Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Halictidae
Genre : Rail bees
Scientific name
Nomiapis
Cockerell , 1919

The rail bees are a group of bees in the Halictidae family . According to the current system, the rail bees belong to the genus Pseudapis . Only two types of rail bees are known from Central Europe .

features

The native rail bees are 8 to 10 mm long, black, with distinct white abdomen bands. The scales at the base of the wing ( tegulae ) are strikingly large. The males have thickened hind legs and appendages on the tibia, hence the German name.

Way of life

The rail bees live solitary, sometimes in aggregations. The females dig nests in the soil with little vegetation. One generation is formed each year. In the nests, brood cells are in groups, their insides are coated with a water-repellent coating. Old brood cells are often reused. The females collect pollen from different types of plants (they are polylectic).

Various short-horned bees are known as cuckoo bees (brood parasites) .

Systematics

The rail bees belong to the subfamily Nomiinae. According to Michener, this contains the following genera (number of species in brackets): Dieunomia (9), Halictonomia (10), Lipotriches (278), Melittidia (19), Nomia (111), Pseudapis (73), Ptilonomia (3), Reepenia (3), Spatunomia (2), Sphegocephala (6), Steganiomus (7).

: However, by various authors, the affiliation of the rail bees in different genres, depending on the species concept, given Pseudapis , Nomia by other authors is considered unexplained membership because the generic concepts are unclear. Michener (2007) regards Nomiapis as a synonym for Pseudapis .

According to Baker (2002), these bees belong to the genus Nomiapis , which is widespread in the Palearctic and includes a widespread species in North Africa and another in South India.

Since the generic concepts are different, the genera contain different numbers of species and have different overall distribution. Baker lists 15 species of the genus Nomiapis . The large genus Nomia , which is widespread worldwide, contains (including Pseudapis and Nomiapis ) over 180 species.

Central European species

  • Pseudapis diversipes (= Syn. Nomia diversipes , Nomiapis diversipes ). In Austria in Lower Austria and Burgenland, in Switzerland in Valais.
  • Pseudapis femoralis (= syn. Nomia femoralis , Nomiapis femoralis ). Historically in Austria and Germany, but now lost.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ascher & Pickering: Discover Live. Retrieved April 27, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Pauly A. 2019. Le genre Pseudapis WFKirby 1900. www.atlashymenoptera.net. Retrieved February 3, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Erwin Scheuchl & Willner, Wolfgang: Pocket dictionary of the wild bees of Central Europe . 1st edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim, Hunsrück 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 .
  4. ↑ a b c Species of solitary bees: Rail bees (Nomia / Pseudapis). www.wildbienen.de. Retrieved February 3, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b c Ch. D. Michener: The Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007, pp. 341 .
  6. ^ A b Paul Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 519 .
  7. ↑ A. Müller, A. Krebs, FA Miet: bees. Central European species, way of life, observation . Naturbuch Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-89440-241-5 , p. 294 .
  8. ^ A b c Donald Burton Baker: On Palaearctic and Oriental species of the genera Pseudapis WF Kirby, 1900, and Nomiapis Cockerell, 1919 (Hymenoptera, Halictidae, Nomiinae). In: Contributions to Entomology . tape 52 , no. 1 , 2002, p. 1-83 , doi : 10.21248 / contrib.entomol.52.1.1-83 ( contributions-to-entomology.org ).