The Colletidae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining. C. D. Michener (2007) ''The Bees of the World'', 2nd Edition, pg. 133, Johns Hopkins University Press. The five

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zool ...

, 54

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, and over 2000

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are all evidently solitary (with the known exception of but one species, '' Amphylaeus morosus''), though many nest in aggregations. Two of the subfamilies, Euryglossinae and Hylaeinae, lack the external pollen-carrying apparatus (the

scopa (; ) is an Italian card game, and one of the three major national card games in Italy, the others being and . It is also popular in Argentina and Brazil, brought in by Italian diaspora, Italian immigrants, mostly in the variation. is also p ...

) that otherwise characterizes most bees, and instead carry the pollen in their crops. These groups, and most genera in this family, have liquid or semiliquid pollen masses on which the larvae develop. They can be found all over the world, but the most species live in South America and Australia. Over 50% of all bee species living in Australia belong to this family. Only the genera '' Colletes'' and '' Hylaeus'' can be found in Europe, while in the Western Hemisphere, in addition to these two, the genera '' Caupolicana'', '' Eulonchopria'', and '' Ptiloglossa'' are found. Australian genera include '' Euhesma'', a large genus, members of which has been split off into other genera such as '' Euryglossa'' and '' Callohesma''. Traditionally, this family is believed to be likely the most "primitive" among extant bees, based primarily on the similarities of their mouthparts (the unique possession among bees of a bilobed glossa) to those of

Crabronidae The Crabronidae is a large family of wasps within the superfamily Apoidea. Taxonomy and phylogeny This family has historically been treated as a subfamily in the now-defunct Spheciformes group under the family Sphecidae. The Spheciformes inclu ...

(the putative ancestors of bees), but recent molecular studies have disproved this hypothesis, placing the

Melittidae Melittidae is a small bee family, with over 200 described species in three subfamilies. The family has a limited distribution, with all described species restricted to Africa and the northern temperate zone. Fossil melittids have been found oc ...

(''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'') as the basal group of bees.

"Nocturnal" species

The Colletidae are one of the four bee families that contain some

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

species (of both the " vespertine" and " matinal" types). These bees, as is typical in such cases, have greatly enlarged

ocelli A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

. The other families with some crepuscular species are

Andrenidae The Andrenidae (commonly known as mining bees) are a large, nearly cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Most of the family's diversity is located in temperate or arid areas (warm temperate xeric). It i ...

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 div ...

, and

Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

Systematics

*Subfamily Colletinae — worldwide **Tribe Paracolletini ***'' Brachyglossula'' ***'' Callomelitta'' ***'' Chrysocolletes'' ***'' Eulonchopria'' ***'' Glossurocolletes'' ***'' Hesperocolletes'' ***'' Leioproctus'' ***'' Lonchopria'' ***'' Lonchorhyncha'' ***'' Neopasiphae'' ***'' Niltonia'' ***'' Paracolletes'' ***'' Phenacolletes'' ***'' Trichocolletes'' **Tribe Colletini ***'' Colletes'' ***'' Mourecotelles'' **Tribe Scraptrini ***'' Scrapter'' *Subfamily Diphaglossinae — Americas **Tribe Caupolicanini ***'' Caupolicana'' ***'' Crawfordapis'' ***'' Ptiloglossa'' **Tribe Diphaglossini ***'' Cadeguala'' ***'' Cadegualina'' ***'' Diphaglossa'' **Tribe Dissoglottini ***'' Mydrosoma'' ***'' Mydrosomella'' ***'' Ptiloglossidia'' *Subfamily Xeromelissinae — tropical Americas **'' Chilicola'' **'' Chilimelissa'' **'' Geodiscelis'' **'' Xenochilicola'' **'' Xeromelissa'' '' Hylaeus'' sp. on ''Allium'' flower. *Subfamily Hylaeinae — yellow-faced bees, worldwide **'' Amphylaeus'' **'' Calloprosopis'' **'' Hemirhiza'' **'' Hylaeus'' **'' Hyleoides'' **'' Meroglossa'' **'' Palaeorhiza'' **'' Xenorhiza'' *Subfamily Euryglossinae — Australian **'' Brachyhesma'' **'' Callohesma'' **'' Dasyhesma'' **'' Euhesma'' **'' Euryglossa'' **'' Euryglossina'' **'' Euryglossula'' **'' Heterohesma'' **'' Hyphesma'' **'' Melittosmithia'' **'' Pachyprosopis'' **''

Sericogaster ''Sericogaster'' is a monotypic genus of bees belonging to the family Colletidae. The only species is ''Sericogaster fasciata''. The species is found in Australia. References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q18102217, from2=Q2650761 Colletidae Monotyp ...

'' **'' Stenohesma'' **'' Tumidihesma'' **'' Xanthesma''

References

External links

Image Gallery from Gembloux

Online identification guides to Eastern North American Colletidae
{{Authority control Bee families Taxa named by Amédée Louis Michel le Peletier