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Halictidae
Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees (clade Anthophila) with nearly 4,500 species. They are commonly called sweat bees (especially the smaller species), as they are often attracted to perspiration. Halictid species are an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly in appearance. These bees occur all over the world and are found on every continent except Antarctica. Usually dark-colored (frequently brown or black) and often metallic, halictids are found in various sizes, colors and patterns. Several species are all or partly green and a few are red, purple, or blue. A number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly have yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. The family is one of many with short tongues and is best distinguished by the arcuate (strongly curved) basal vein found on the wing. Females in this family tend to be larger than the males. They are the group for which the term 'eusocial' was first coined b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalopta Genalis
''Megalopta genalis'' is a nocturnal species of the family Halictidae, otherwise known as the sweat bee (other), sweat bees. The bee is native to Central America, Central and South America.Greiner, B., et al. (2004)Neural organisation in the first optic ganglion of the nocturnal bee ''Megalopta genalis''.''Cell and Tissue Research'' 318(2), 429-37. Its eyes have anatomical adaptations that make them 27 times more sensitive to light than diurnal bees, giving it the ability to be nocturnal. However, its eyes are not completely different from other diurnal bees, but are still apposition compound eyes. The difference therefore lies purely in adaptations to become nocturnal, increasing the success of foraging and minimizing the danger of doing so from predation. This species has served as a model organism in studies of social animal, social behavior and night vision in bees. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Megalopta genalis'' is a sweat bee of the family Halictidae. The term "swea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bees
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some speciesincluding honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless beeslive socially in colonies while most species (>90%)including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat beesare solitary. Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than long, to the leafcutter bee '' Megach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halictus Rubicundus
''Halictus rubicundus'', the orange-legged furrow bee, is a species of Halictidae, sweat bee found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. ''H. rubicundus'' entered North America from the Old World during one of two main invasions of ''Halictus'' subgenera. These invasions likely occurred via the Bering Land Bridge, Bering land bridge at times of low sea level during the Pleistocene epoch. The species exhibits different social behaviors depending on climate: it is a solitary species in high elevations or latitudes where the season is short, but eusocial in other areas. Often, solitary and eusocial colonies appear simultaneously in the same population. These sweat bees are extensively studied for their variability in social behavior, which has become a model for social plasticity. This variability has contributed to an understanding of evolution of social behavior.Yanega, D. (1997) Demography and sociality in halictine bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). pp. 293-315 in Choe, J.C. & Crespi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halictus Ligatus
''Halictus ligatus'' is a species of sweat bee from the family Halictidae, among the species that mine or burrow into the ground to create their nests. ''H. ligatus,'' like ''Lasioglossum zephyrus','' is a primitively eusocial bee species, in which aggression is one of the most influential behaviors for establishing hierarchy within the colony, and ''H. ligatus'' exhibits both reproductive division of labor and overlapping generations. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Halictus ligatus'' was originally described by Thomas Say in 1837.Carman, Geoffrey M., and Laurence Packer (1996) "A cryptic species allied to ''Halictus ligatus'' Say (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) detected by allozyme electrophoresis." ''Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society'' 69 (suppl.): 168-176. The genus name '' Halictus'' refers to a group of sweat bees of the family Halictidae and order Hymenoptera known for their eusocial behavior and underground nesting.Danforth, Bryan N. "Evolution of sociality in a primitively ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasioglossum Zephyrus
''Lasioglossum zephyrus'' is a sweat bee of the family Halictidae, found in the U.S. and Canada. It appears in the literature primarily under the misspelling "''zephyrum''". It is considered a primitively eusocial bee (meaning that they do not have a permanent division of labor within colonies),Batra, S. W. T. 1966. The life cycle and behavior of the primitively social bee ''Lasioglossum zephyrum'' (Halictidae). Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 46:359–423. although it may be facultatively solitary (i.e., displaying both solitary and eusocial behaviors).Interactions in colonies of primitively social bees: Artificial colonies of ''Lasioglossum zephyrum'' ''PNAS''. Retrieved 08-27-2011. The species nests in burrows in the soil. Taxonomy and phylogeny |
Halictinae
Within the insect order Hymenoptera, the Halictinae are the largest, most diverse, and most recently diverged of the four halictid subfamilies. They comprise over 2400 bee species belonging to the five taxonomic tribes Augochlorini, Thrinchostomini, Caenohalictini, Sphecodini, and Halictini, which some entomologists alternatively organize into the two tribes Augochlorini and Halictini. The subfamily Halictinae also belongs to the hymenopteran monophyletic clade Aculeata, whose members are characterized by the possession of a modified ovipositor in the form of a venomous sting for predator and prey defense. Including all eusocial and cleptoparasitic Halictidae taxa, these small bees are pollen feeders who mass provision their young and exhibit a broad spectrum of behavioral social polymorphies, ranging from solitary nesting to obligate eusociality. Estimated from the fossil record, eusociality in this subfamily evolved about 20 to 22 million years ago, which is relatively r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalopta
''Megalopta'' is a widespread neotropical genus of bees in the tribe Augochlorini in family Halictidae, known as the sweat bees. They are the largest of the five nocturnal genera in Augochlorini. Most have pale integumentary pigmentation, and all have large ocelli, most likely a feature of their nocturnal behavior. They live in tropical Central America and the entirety of South America. The subgenus ''Noctoraptor'' is cleptoparasitic. They are not known from the fossil record. ''Megalopta'' was first described by Frederick Smith in 1853. The type species is ''Megalopta idalia,'' now known as '' Megalopta amoena''. Most studies done on ''Megalopta'' are focused on ''M. genalis''. General description ''Megalopta'' are up to 2 cm long. They have large ocelli and compound eyes, used for nocturnal foraging. They have a yellow/brown abdomen with dark brown banding and metallic green/yellow to bronze thorax and head. Nocturnal behavior and vision All species of ''Megalopta'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eusociality
Eusociality (Greek 'good' and social) is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society, sometimes called castes. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform behaviors characteristic of individuals in another caste. Eusocial colonies can be viewed as superorganisms. Eusociality has evolved among the insects, crustaceans, trematoda and mammals. It is most widespread in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and in Isoptera (termites). A colony has caste differences: queens and reproductive males take the roles of the sole reproducers, while soldiers and worker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasioglossum Malachurum
''Lasioglossum malachurum'', the sharp-collared furrow bee, is a small European halictid bee. This species is obligately eusocial, with queens and workers, though the differences between the castes are not nearly as extreme as in honey bees. Early taxonomists mistakenly assigned the worker females to a different species from the queens. They are small (about 1 cm), shiny, mostly black bees with off-white hair bands at the bases of the abdominal segments. ''L. malachurum'' is one of the more extensively studied species in the genus ''Lasioglossum'', also known as sweat bees. Researchers have discovered that the eusocial behavior in colonies of ''L. malachurum'' varies significantly dependent upon the region of Europe in which each colony is located. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''L. malachurum'' was described by the entomologist William Kirby in 1802. This species of bees fall within the genus ''Lasioglossum'', which is the largest bee genus. ''Lasioglossum'' falls within the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphecodes
''Sphecodes'' is a genus of cuckoo bees from the family Halictidae, the majority of which are black and red in colour and are colloquially known as blood bees. ''Sphecodes'' bees are kleptoparasitic on other bees, especially bees in the genera ''Lasioglossum'', '' Halictus'' and ''Andrena''. The adults consume nectar, but because they use other bees' provisions to feed their offspring they do not collect pollen. Distribution ''Sphecodes'' is a cosmopolitan genus with species represented on every continent. The genus is also very species rich, with 21 species described from Siberia, 33 species from Central Europe, 17 species from the Indian region, 26 from the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding region, and 21 from Southeast Asia. The genus is only represented in Australia in the northeast, with the species '' Sphecodes albilabris'' being thought to have been introduced to both Australia and the United States by accident. Species There are over 300 known species in the genus ''Sph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halictus Sexcinctus
''Halictus sexcinctus'', commonly referred to as the six-banded furrow bee, is a species of sweat bee found throughout Europe and as far east as Asian Turkey and Iraq. The ''H. sexcinctus'' can be easily confused with the closely related species, ''Halictus scabiosae'', due to very similar morphological features. ''H. sexcinctus'' show a social polymorphism in which different colonies can exhibit solitary, communal, or eusocial structure. Due to this large variance in social organization, it was suspected that it was not one species at all, but rather multiple, cryptic species. However, genetic analysis was able to confirm these varying populations as one species. ''H. sexcinctus'' will forage from multiple flower species, but prefers plant species with wide-open flowers. Their nests can be found dug into the ground in loamy or sandy soil. Taxonomy and phylogenetics ''Halictus sexcinctus'' is part of the family Halictidae, which are commonly referred to as the sweat bees. Specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasioglossum
The sweat bee genus ''Lasioglossum'' is the largest of all bee genera, containing over 1800 species in numerous subgenera worldwide.Gibbs, J., et al. (2012)Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for ''Halictus'' and ''Lasioglossum'' (Apoidea: Anthophila: Halictidae).''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 65(3), 926-39. They are highly variable in size, coloration, and sculpture; among the more unusual variants, some are cleptoparasites, some are nocturnal, and some are oligolectic. Most ''Lasioglossum'' species nest in the ground, but some nest in rotten logs. Social behavior among species of ''Lasioglossum'' is extraordinarily variable; species are known to exhibit solitary nesting, primitive eusociality, and social parasitism. Colony sizes vary widely, from small colonies of a single queen and four or fewer workers to large colonies of >400 workers and perennial life cycles. The genus ''Lasioglossum'' can be divided into two informal series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
