2188 Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico 



Biology: Schrottky, 1902. Rev. Mus. Paulista 5: 468 (floral records). — Schrottky, 1904. 

 Allgem. Ztschr. Ent. 9: 344-349 (nest). -Strand, 1912. Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. 33: 267 

 (nest). — Bertoni, 1918. An. Cient. Paraguayos (2) 3: 219 (nest). —Moure, 1942. Papeis 

 Avulsos Dept. Zool., Secretaria Agr. Sao Paulo 2: 301 (nest). — Hurd and Moure, 1960. Ent. 

 Sec. Amer., Ann. 53: 819-820 (nest substrates). 



Family APIDAE 



Species of this family are found throughout much of the world from the high Arctic latitudes 

 to or near the southern limits of the major land masses of the Southern Hemisphere. The family 

 consists of two subfamilies, the Bombinae which includes the orchid bees (Euglossini) and bum- 

 blebees (Bombini) and the Apinae which contains the stingless honeybees (Meliponini) and the 

 familiar stinging honeybees (Apini). Some of these bees are of exceptional value to man not only 

 because of their production of honey^and other products, but also because they pollinate many 

 agricultural and other plants. Although the family contains some social parasites (e.g., Aglae, 

 Exaerete and Psithyrus) and nest robbers (e.g., Lestrimelitta), the pollen-collecting females, un- 

 like those of any other family of bees, transport pollen by means of specialized pollen baskets 

 (corbiculae) located on the hind tibiae. Virtually all stages of social development are exhibited by 

 the family. These include all of the highly eusocial bees (Apinae) which hve in perennial colonies 

 as well as the primitively eusocial bumblebees and the solitary and parasocial Euglossini. 



In America north of Mexico the family is represented most conspicuously by the introduced 

 European honeybee (Apis viellifem Linnaeus) and the many native species of bumblebees. The 

 only other member of this family present in the United States is a species of the Neotropical 

 genus Eulaema which was found years ago in the vicinity of Brownsville, Texas. In spite of re- 

 peated attempts to introduce various species of meliponine bees into the United States none of 

 these introductions has been successful. 



Taxonomy: Mitchell, 1962. N. C. Agr. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bui. 152: 513-546, figs. 128-134, table 

 18 (east. U. S. spp.). —Winston and Michener, 1977. Natl. Acad. Sci., U. S. A., Proc. 74: 

 1135-1137 (phylogeny). 



Biology: Michener, 1974. The Social Behavior of Bees, 404 pp., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 



Morphology: Lello, 1976. Kans. Ent. Soc, Jour. 49: 85-99, 22 figs., 3 tables (adnexal glands of 

 the sting apparatus). 



Subfamily BOMBINAE 



This subfamily contains two tribes, the Euglossini which is found only in the Neotropical Re- 

 gion and the Bombini which, although chiefly Holarctic in occurrence, is represented by a 

 number of species in both the Oriental and Neotropical Regions. Several species of this latter 

 tribe have been successfully introduced into the Australian Region (New Zealand). 



Tribe EUGLOSSINI 



These bees, which are found only in the Americas (Chihuahua, Sonora, and Texas to Argen- 

 tina) are centered in the tropics and are most abundant and diverse iti the forested regions. The 

 tribe consists of six genera, four of which contain pollen-collecting species (Eufriesea, Euglossa, 

 Eulaema, and Euplusia) and two others (Aglae and Exaerete) whose species are social parasites 

 in the nests of the pollen-collecting Euglossini. Many of the species are large and brillantly 

 metallic while others are clothed with contrasting patterns of black and white or yellow and 

 white pubescence reminiscent of bumblebees. The males of many, if not all, pollen-collecting spe- 

 cies, unlike most females, are selectively attracted to the flowers of one or more species of 

 orchids, many of which produce little or no nectar and evidently no food. The attraction of the 

 males to these flowers is not fully understood. It is beheved that lek behavior is involved and 

 that the males seek certain substances from these flowers, as well as from other sources, and 

 store these in the organs of their greatly enlarged hind tibiae. It has been suggested that these 

 substances are converted into sex pheromones, possibly species-specific, which are used to at- 

 tract females responsive to mating. The males of different species visit the flowers of different 

 species of orchids and often dislodge pollinia which adhere to the head, thorax or legs. Thus 



