''Exaerete frontalis'' is a

kleptoparasitic 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 ...

species of

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 ...

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 superfamil ...

Description

Behavior

''Exaerete frontalis'' is a kleptoparasitic species. Females do not build own nests but lay their egg in nests of other large euglossine bees, especially in the genera ''

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 ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''.

Distribution

''Exaerete frontalis'' is found from

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

to central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

References

4.Dressler, R. L. 1982. Biology of the orchid bees (Euglossini). Annual Review of Ecology and Systematiics 13: 373–394.

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * '' The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and ...

Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Insects of Central America Taxa named by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville Orchid pollinators Insects described in 1845 {{Apinae-stub