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Home , Andrena, Andrenidae, Colletidae, Melittidae

Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU

All PIRU Publications Pollinating Research Unit

1956

Kinds of

George E. Bohart Utah State University

William P. Nye Utah State University

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Part of the Entomology Commons

Recommended Citation Bohart, George E., and William P. Nye. 1956. Kinds of Bees. Gleanings Cult. 84(6): 331-333.

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Pollinating Insects Research Unit at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All PIRU Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. T LEAST 5000 of bees in­ whole g~oup and others would divide Ahabit the earth. Some are no larger the bees into even more than the eight than the head of a common pin and families shown. Twigs, in the form of most of them are smaller than the new species, are constantly being added honeybee. However, the giant leaf­ to the tree. Every year our western cutting bee of India is larger than a deserts and mountains reveal many man's thumb. No matter how large or heretofore unknown bees. small they may be, you can practically The four families at the base of the always tell bees from other Hymenop­ tree are the "short-tongued" bees and tera by their feathered hairs and their the four at the top are the "long­ habit of providing honey and pollen tongued" bees. To be truthful we will for their young. While most bees are have to admit that some of the short­ solitary, here and there on the tongued bees are longer tongued than tree the beginnings of social life are the long-tongued bees, but these are evident. The full flowering of social only special cases where a few genera development is reserved for the family or species have gone off on tangents of . Its species occupy the upper­ their own. In such cases the bees in­ most branch of the tree and include volved are usually adapted to a single the well-known honeybees, , type of flower with a long corolla tube. and stingless bees. In case you have an aversion to Latin When scientists are confronted with names, we are listing the families below a vast assortment of physical objects, with their common names, some of their first attempt is to classify the in­ which we had to "dream up" for this dividual forms i n t 0 closely related article: groups. These groups are then assem­ - broad-tongued bees bled into larger units until finally a - sweat bees unified structure appears that expresses - mining bees the relationships between the forms and - (no common name) suggests how they originated. For liv­ - thick-jawed bees ing creatures the structural framework Xylocopidae - carpenter bees is best expressed in the form of a Anthophoridae - robust mining bees branching tree. Apidae - social bees Hymenopterists agree fairly well on The family Colletidae with its short the major evolutionary branches of the two-lobed tongue is supposed to be the "bee tree" (Fig. 1), although some most primitive group of bees. In this would give only family rank to the family the (Fig. 2) is ' U S.D.A., Agr. Res. Se rv., Entomology Re- decidedly wasplike in appearance and search Branch, in cooperation with Utah Agri,cultural Experiment Station. carries its pollen in the honey stomach instead of in specialized external "bas­ kets". The primitive nature of the Colletidae is also suggested by its s t ron g representation in , which is a stronghold of with ancient lineage. The Halictidae is a large family, es­ pecially well represented in the tropics of the New World. Although facial characters and the presence of certain grooves on the thorax show it to be related to the primitive colletids, many of its members have developed a true social life somewhat like that of bum­ blebees. The best known genera can be told from other bees by a strongly curved vein in the forewing (Fig. 2). A narrow longitudinal groove on the last abdominal segment of the females of most species has given rise to the 1. Family tree of the bees (only the more common or distinctive gen­ era included). name furrow bees. The term "sweat bees" refers to the habit which many species have of landing on and some­ times stinging perspiring people. The Halictidae cONtains the a I k ali bee (Nomia meiaD(ieri ckll.) (Fig. 2), which ( has beeome famous as .an alfalfa polli­ nator in the irrigated valleys of the West. The family Andrenidae (Fig. 3) has more species than the other families, but its members tend to be small and inconspicuous. They are rather flatten­ ed and usually .have round faces with grooves or shallow depressions just inside the eye margins. The genus has close to a thousand spe­ cies, and in most parts of North Amer- 2. 1. Hylaeus (Colletldae). 2. Ha­ lictus (Hallctidae). 3. Nomia (Ha­ lictidae). 4. Colliltes (Colletidae). ica it is the most abundant group of wild bees. Most of the species in this family are almost impossible to identify because the available keys and descrip­ tions are so unrelated and inadequate. Melittidae is a small family, poorly represented in this. country. The species bear a general resemblance to the an­ drenids, but lack the facial depressions and have several other basic differ­ ences. Strangely, (Fig. 3), which is the largest genus in our fauna, is found nowhere else but South . 3. 1. Meg a chi Ie (Megachilidae). Anthidlum (Megachilidae). 3. Cer­ atina (Xylocopidae). 4. Xylocopa (XyJocopidae). The genus , which includes the "alfalfa bee" of Europe, is represented in this country by four species, but they are so rare you could probably place all the specimens in museums in a single cigar box. The family Megachilidae probably ranks next to Andrenidae in number of species. The outstanding feature of this family is that its members carry their pollen loads on the underside of the abdomen (Fig. 3). Another char­ acteristic is the thick-set and powerful pair of jaws which they use to gather various materials for the lining of their

4 Andrena (Andrenidae). 2. An­ drena (Andrenidae). 3. (Andrenidae). 4. Hesperapis (Me­ littidae).

brood cells. Both the scientific and common names for the family refer to this feature. Many megachilids are conspicuous in appearance and in hab­ its. The leaf-cutting bees (Megachile) and some of the Osmia are disliked be­ cause of their leaf-cutting habits, but they more than make up fbr this nui­ sance by their excellent performance as pollinators. ,The family Xylocopidae has only a few genera and probably fewer than 200 species. However, by virtue of their size and their abundance near dwellings, the I a r g e carpenter bees (Xylocopa) (Fig. 3) are well known to the layman, especially in warm coun­ tries. In this country there are two dis­ tinct genera, the tiny twig-and reed­ inhabiting Ceratina (Fig 3) and the

5. Anthoporidae 1. hop h 0 r a 2. Melissodes 3. 4. Trie­ peolus 5. Neolarra. (3, 4, and 5 are "cuckoo bees") outsized timber-inhabiting Xylocopa. Both genera are mainly black or bluish black and have large, round heads. The large carpenter bees can be told from bumblebees by their rou' d heilJs and their brushlike pollen : ollecting apparatus. The family Anthophoridae is about as large as the Megachilidae. We call its members the robust mining bees be­ cause most of them are stout and bur-

6. Apidae 1. Apis 2. Bombus 3. Eu­ laema 4. Trigona row in the soil. They range from the the largest group of the Apidae. Most smallest of bees to large furry insects of them are found in the New World, the size of bumblebees (Fig. 5). They but tropical areas in the Old World have long tongues, relatively slender possess a few species of the single gen­ mandibles, and brushlike hind legs for us Trigona. Some colo­ carrying pollen. The last feature is not nies compare in size with those of the found on the numerous parasitic forms common honeybee. In the heyday of that have arisen in this family. The the Mayas and Aztecs of Mexico, sting­ parasitic species in such genera as less beekeeping was an important in­ Nomada (Fig. 5) (parasites of Andrena) dustry. and Trizpeolus (Fig. 5) (parasites of The honeybees (genus Apis) we re Melissodes) have mostly short, scalelike confined to the Old World until white hairs and conspicuous red and black men brought the common honeybee and yellow or black and white patterns. (Apis melUfera) to . The Most people think of them as other two or three species of Apis are instead of bees. still found in the continents of Africa The social bees (family Apidae) are and Asia. Apis indica, which is often largely restricted to tropical and sub­ considered as a subspecies of A. melli­ tropical areas. Bumblebees (Fig. 6) and fera, is kept in hives in India and China their parasitic cousins in the genus but its yields are generally smaller than Psithyrus are the only truly cold-hardy those of typical A. mellifera. bees in the outfit. The common honey­ The most primitive of the Apidae bee (Fig. 6), like man, can live in cold are the large and beautifully colored climates because it has learned to con­ tropical American bees of the genera trol its environment. Alone and unpro· Euglossa and Eulaema (Fig. 6). Al­ tected neither man nor his friend the though their tongues and pollen bas­ ,honeybee ·can·"long survive freezing kets show a high state of development, temperatures. You can easily recognize they are "socially retarded". Thl"ir only members of this family by the shining claim to social life is in tbe use of pollen baskets on the hind legs. • common entrances for separate nest' The stingless bees (Fig. 6) comprise grouped closely together. Logan, Utah. Reprinted from June, 1956, Issue of Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio