''Exaerete'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

euglossine The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description, distribution, and behavior ...

bee 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 superfamil ...

s found from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Like all

orchid bee The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description, distribution, and behavior ...

s, they are restricted to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

. All but one species is metallic green, and they are

cleptoparasite Kleptoparasitism (originally spelt clepto-parasitism, meaning "parasitism by theft") is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct fe ...

s in the nests of other euglossines in the genera ''

Eufriesea ''Eufriesea'' is a genus of Euglossini, euglossine bees. Like all orchid bees, they are restricted to the Neotropics. All species range from entirely to at least partially metallic (the face and/or tegulae), though much of the body in some speci ...

'' and ''

Eulaema ''Eulaema'' is a genus of large-bodied euglossine bees that occur primarily in the Neotropics. They are robust brown or black bees, hairy or velvety, and often striped with yellow or orange, typically resembling bumblebees. They lack metallic c ...

''. It contains the following species: Exaerete smaragdina 448429782

* ''

Exaerete azteca ''Exaerete'' is a genus of Euglossini, euglossine bees found from Mexico to northern Argentina. Like all orchid bees, they are restricted to the Neotropics. All but one species is metallic green, and they are cleptoparasites in the nests of other ...

'' Moure, 1964 * '' Exaerete dentata'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * '' Exaerete fallaciosa'' Engel, 2018 * ''

Exaerete frontalis ''Exaerete frontalis'' is a kleptoparasite, kleptoparasitic species of euglossine bees. Description Behavior ''Exaerete frontalis'' is a kleptoparasitic species. Females do not build own nests but lay their egg in nests of other large euglos ...

'' (Guérin-Méneville, 1845) * '' Exaerete kimseyae'' Oliviera, 2011 * '' Exaerete lepeletieri'' Oliviera & Nemesio, 2003 * '' Exaerete salsai'' Nemesio, 2011 * '' Exaerete smaragdina'' (Guérin-Méneville, 1845) * '' Exaerete tricosa'' Engel & Bembé, 2020 * '' Exaerete trochanterica'' (Friese, 1900)

References

External links

* David Roubik (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
Diagnostic photographs of several ''Exaerete'' species
Bee genera Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Euglossini Orchid pollinators Brood parasites {{Apinae-stub