Triepeolus

Felt bees
	Triepeolus simplex female from Canada
Systematics
Order :	Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily :	Apoidea
without rank:	Bees (Apiformes)
Family :	Real bees (Apidae)
Subfamily :	Nomadinae
Genre :	Felt bees
Scientific name
	Triepeolus
	Robertson , 1911

Triepeolus is a genus of bees in the Apidae family . A total of over 140 species of Triepeolus are known. The genus is mainly found in North America, but also in Central and South America to Argentina. It is absent in Africa, tropical Asia and Australia. There are two species in Eurasia, only one of which occurs in Central Europe, the other in East Asia.

Black felt bees (= Triepeolus tristis) occur in Central Europe . Otherwise, the German names felt bees refer to species of the closely related genus Epeolus .

features

Triepeolus bees are small to medium-sized, 7 to 11 mm long. The body is predominantly black, the legs are mostly red in color. There are felt-like white hair spots on the abdomen. There are three cubital cells in the wing, the second of which is smaller than the third.

Way of life

Triepeolus are cuckoo bees, i.e. H. they lay their eggs in other bees' nests. They only visit flowers to supply themselves with nectar and do not build their own nests.

Systematics

The genus Triepeolus is in the subfamily Nomadinae in the tribe Epeolini. This tribe contains 7 genera, of which the two genera Epeolus and Triepeolus , each with over 100 species, are the largest. A division of the genus into sub-genres has not taken place.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Paul Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 216, 695-698 .
↑ ^a ^b Molly G. Rightmyer: A review of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Triepeolus (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Part I . In: Zootaxa . No. 1710 , 2008, p. 1-170 ( ku.edu ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c E. Scheuchl & W. Willner: Pocket dictionary of the wild bees of Central Europe . Quelle & Meyer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 , pp. 379-384 .
↑ Ch. D. Michener: The Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore 2007, pp. 646-652 .

[:0-1] A ^b Paul Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 216, 695-698 .

[:1-2] Molly G. Rightmyer: A review of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Triepeolus (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Part I . In: Zootaxa . No. 1710 , 2008, p. 1-170 ( ku.edu ).

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

[4] Ch. D. Michener: The Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore 2007, pp. 646-652 .