Apidae

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Apidae

• Big Bees Part 2

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Acknowledgements

• This presentation has been put together by a
  consortium of North American bee biologists
• This presentation has developed over many years
  and the original web picture acknowledgements
  were lost, if you see one of your pictures let us
  know and we will add your picture credit
• Correspondence can be sent to Sam Droege at
  sdroege_at_usgs.gov

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Format

• Each Genus has an information page followed by a
  page of illustrations and a map of the
  distribution of Eastern North American species
  western populations of Eastern species are shown,
  but the Western species are not mapped
• The number of Eastern species are listed at the
  top of the page

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• Bee Song
• Bees in the late summer sun
• Drone their song
• Of yellow moons
• Trimming black velvet
• Droning, droning a sleepysong.
• - Carl Sandburg

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Apidae (Recently Combined with
Anthophoridae)Groups of Genera

• Covered in Apidae1 Presentation
• Anthophora 6 species
• Melecta - 1
• Habropoda - 1
• Holcopasites - 3
• Neolarra - 1
• Nomada - 80
• Centris 3
• Ericrocis - 1
• Ptilothrix 1
• Cemolobus - 1
• Xylocopa 2
• Ceratina 4
• Euglossa - 1
• Epeoloides 1

• Covered in this presentation
• Peponapis - 1
• Xenoglossa - 2
• Apis - 1
• Bombus - 20
• Anthophorula - 2
• Exomalopsis - 1
• Eucera - 7
• Florilegus - 1
• Melissodes 27
• Triepeolus - 23
• Epeolus - 20
• Melitoma - 1
• Svastra - 5
• Tetraloniella - 2
• Xeromelecta - 2

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Peponapis pruinosa

• A bit larger than a honeybee to which it
  superficially resembles in the field
• Common, squash and pumpkin specialist, found
  primarily on those plants or in bowl traps
• Out at dawn but usually inactive after
  mid-morning
• From the SIDE the profile of the clypeus bows out
  like the bill of a parrot
• Female has oval tegulae, a notched end to its
  mandible and the pollen carrying hairs on the
  basitarsi are sparser than most other Eucerines
  and there is an inner row of very dense shorter
  hairs running down the posterior margin, that is
  distinctive once you figure out where it is
• S6 characters of the male are important in
  distinguishing it from Eucera
• Similar genera Melecta, Xeromelecta,
  Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Florilegus, Melitoma,
  Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus,
  Melissodes

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Peponapis pruinosa Squash Bee
Common Every squash patch
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Xenoglossa

• A little bit larger than a honeybee
• Very similar to Peponapis pruinosa (has
  projecting clypeus) but does not have the notched
  mandible tip, restricted largely to the South,
  and generally less common
• Both males and females have a distinctive tooth
  along the INNER margin of the mandibles, but
  these are difficult to impossible to see when the
  mandibles are tightly closed
• Males first flagellar segment often longer than
  other genera
• Similar genera Melecta, Xeromelecta,
  Anthophora, Melissodes, Peponapis, Florilegus,
  Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella,
  Cemolobus

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Xenoglossa - 2
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Apis

• Size of a honeybee because, of course, it is the
  honeybee
• Long hair on they compound eyes distinctive, only
  Coelioxys has hair on the eyes and then only
  short hair
• Hind tibia in the female is wide, flattened, and
  smooth except for hair around the outside edges
• Males are very rarely seen or collected

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Apismellifera
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Bombus

• The only native colonial bee
• Unique in that the hind wing has no jugal lobe
• Parasitic members were considered in the past to
  be a separate Genus (Psithyrus)
• Non-parasitic females have a wide tibia, the
  outer side of which is completely bare in the
  center (corbiculate) and surrounded by long hairs
• Patterns of yellow, black, reddish hairs often,
  but not always, unique to species, several
  species pairs have to be identified under the
  microscope
• Several other genera have species that look
  similar Habropoda, Anthophora, Ptilothrix,
  Xylocopa

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Bombus - 20
The only native true colonial bee, some parasitic
species (Psythrus)
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Anthophorula

• Extremely rare, a little more than half the size
  of a honeybee
• 2 species, one is a specialist on asters and the
  other on Agalinis
• The pollen carrying hairs are very dense and
  voluminous
• Has a truncate marginal cell, but unlike most
  others in that group has 3 submarginal cells
• Most similar to, and in the past lumped with,
  Exomalopsis, which in the males has a dark
  clypeus unlike the yellow one in Anthophorula
• Similar genera Exomalopsis

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Anthophorula - 2
Small, compact, bushy scopa, very rare
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Exomalopsis similis

• Extremely rare, only 3 records from south Florida
  (1 recent)
• About half the size of a honeybee
• Very similar to Anthophorula in having 3
  submarginal cells and a truncate marginal cell
• Unlike Anthophorula, the males have a dark
  clypeus
• Similar genera Anthophorula

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Exomalopsis similis
Small, very rare, bushy scopa FL, GA
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Eucera

• About 1.5 times as large as a honeybee, uncommon
  Spring bees
• Key features are the oval tegula, projecting
  clypeus, the relatively large distance between
  the lateral edges of the clypeus and the eye and
  S6 characters in the males (in most other genera
  the sides of the clypeus touch the rim of the eye
  or are within a pit diameter of the eye)
• The tegula is usually covered with hair and needs
  to be scraped all the way to the tip with a pin
  to remove hairs to detect the shape
• In profile, the clypeus of the female often
  projects outward (similar to Peponapis), making
  it look rather parrot-beak-like
• Most other species in similar groups occur later
  in the year
• Similar genera Melissodes, Tetraloniella,
  Melecta, Xeromelecta, Cemolobus, Anthophora,
  Florilegus, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Svastra

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Eucera 7 Spring Eucerine
Uncommon
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Florilegus

• Uncommon, pollen specialist on Pickerelweed
  (Pontedaria)
• Shape of the S6 distinct in males
• Basitibial plate in females helpful in
  discriminating it from other genera
• Similar genera Melissodes, Melecta, Eucera,
  Tetraloniella, Melitoma, Svastra, Anthophora,
  Peponapis

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Florilegus condignus
Uncommon, Pickerelweed
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Melissodes

• Common to relatively common from mid-Summer to
  Fall
• Varies in size from about the same as a honeybee
  to almost twice its size
• Female is often mistaken for other genera, the
  tegula is elongated towards the bees head and
  the upper, outside edge is either straight or
  slightly concave, however, to see this the hairs
  on the tegula have to be scraped off all the way
  to the tip
• Males have spines on the far sides of T7, but
  note that these can be hidden in the hair and
  please be careful about spines on S6-S7 looking
  like they are on T7
• Similar genera Melecta, Xeromelecta,
  Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus,
  Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella,
  Cemolobus

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Melissodes 27 Fall Composites
Common
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Triepeolus

• Uncommon to rare, honeybee sized, mid-Summer to
  Fall nest parasite of Melissodes and a few other
  genera
• Triepeolus, Epeolus, and Xeromelecta all have
  unique and distinctive color patterns on their
  abdomens and thoraxes composed of minute, prone
  hairs. Also present are prominent and projecting
  axilae (not present or obvious in Xeromelecta)
• Triepeolus can often be told from Epeolus by
  simply being larger, but see the technical
  details given in the guides to be sure
• Similar genera Epeolus, Epeoloides, Ericrocis,
  Xeromelecta

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Triepeolus 23 Melissodes parasite
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Epeolus

• Almost always smaller than a honeybee, uncommon
  to rare. Present largely from late Spring until
  Fall
• Nest parasite of Colletes, and consequently, the
  female lacks pollen carrying hairs
• Very similar to Triepeolus in the presence of
  bold patterns of minute prone hairs, and
  projecting axilae
• Told from Triepeolus by the pattern of the
  pseudopygidial area, S6, and size and shape of
  pygidial area, usually, however, the much smaller
  size of Epeolus is a strong indication of Epeolus
  rather than Triepeolus
• Similar genera Triepeolus, Epeoloides,
  Ericrocis

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Epeolus - 20 Parasite of Colletes
Smaller than Triepeolus
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Svastra

• Large, 1.5 to 2x the size of honeybees
• Late Summer and Fall species
• Indicator of high quality field/prairie habitat
• Unlike other Eucerines has spatulate hairs.
  These hairs look like tiny, transparent, table
  knives and are not significantly longer than the
  surrounding hairs. These hairs primarily occur
  at the BASE of T2 peaking out from under the rim
  of T1 along with more abundant simple hairs,
  usually present only in small numbers and
  difficult to impossible to see in most species,
  so often not a useful character, but one worth
  looking for
• Told from female Melissodes by the clearly oval
  shape of the tegula (hairs must be scraped from
  the tip)
• Told from Eucera by nearly complete lack of
  overlap in occurrence (Eucera come out in the
  Spring and early Summer) and the relatively wide
  distance between the sides of the clypeus and the
  eye in Eucera (this gap often the size of the
  width of the antennae)
• Similarly told from the rarer Tetraloniella by
  the greater distance between eye and sides of
  clypeus
• In unworn specimens there is USUALLY a distinct
  tuft of longer hairs in the center of the
  metanotum, the surrounding hairs clearly much
  shorter, in other groups these hairs are uniform
  in height
• Similar genera Melecta, Xeromelecta,
  Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus,
  Melitoma, Eucera, Melissodes, Tetraloniella,
  Cemolobus

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Svastra 5 - Monster Eucerines
Associated with high quality summer and fall
composite fields
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Tetraloniella

• Rare to uncommon species, associated with prairie
  habitats in the Midwest
• Extremely fast fliers (Eucerines, in general, are
  fast fliers, but these are the champs)
• Most similar to Eucera (Mitchell had these two
  genera lumped together), but the clypeus less
  projecting that in Eucera
• In the male the tibial spurs of the middle legs
  are relatively short, extending in length to less
  than half that of the tibia
• Similar genera Melecta, Xeromelecta,
  Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus,
  Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Melissodes, Cemolobus

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Tetraloniella - 2
Rare, prairie bees
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Xeromelecta

• Extremely rare
• Known only from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana
• Nest parasite of Anthophora abrupta and
  consequently the female has no pollen carrying
  hairs
• Marginal cell very short, extending only to about
  the outer edge of the submarginal cells
• Told from the somewhat similar Melecta by the
  shape of the claws of the middle and hind legs
• Similar genera Melecta, Melissodes,
  Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus,
  Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella,
  Cemolobus

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Xeromelecta - 2 Anthophora Parasite
Rare
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Resources

• Species lists, Identification Guides, and Maps
  for genera and species are available at
• http//www.discoverlife.org/20/q?searchApoidea
• A guide to the genera of the bees of Canada is
  available at
• http//www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/pgs_03
  /pgs_03.html
• Mitchells 1960s book on the bees of the Eastern
  United States is available as a series of pdf
  files at
• http//insectmuseum.org/easternBees.php
• A slightly out of date guide to the
  identification of the genera of ALL of North
  America is available at
• http//www.knoxcellars.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?
  ScreenPRODStore_CodeKCNPProduct_CodeBGNACate
  gory_CodeBL