The Melectini are a tribe of medium- to large-sized
apid 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 monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
s found essentially worldwide. They are
brood parasite
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...
s of the related typical digger bees (
Anthophorini) and occasionally visit flowers e.g. in
prairie landscapes of the
United States.
[Stephen, W.P.; Bohart, G.E. & Torchio, P.F. (1969): ''The Biology and External Morphology of Bees, With a Synopsis of the Genera of Northwestern America''. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon]
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As in other cuckoo bees, females can be easily distinguished from those of their hosts by the lack of scopae and other pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
-collecting adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
s, as well as lacking prepygidial fimbria and basitibial plates. Their body hair is rather short and on the abdomen lies flat against the exoskeleton. They may, therefore, be difficult at first glance to distinguish from the Nomadinae, but the details of their wing venation are characteristic: the marginal cell is shorter than the first two submarginal cells, and the second abscissa of vein M+Cu is extremely short, with the cells it connects being almost adjacent to each other. The jugal lobes are very small, less than half as long as the vannal lobes.
Genera
These bee genera belong to the Melectini:[Yanega, Doug (2007)]
Bee Genera of the World
Version of 2007-SEP-31. Retrieved 2008-MAY-06.
* '' Afromelecta'' Lieftinck 1972
* ''Brachymelecta
''Brachymelecta'' is a genus of digger-cuckoo bees in the family 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 ...
'' Linsley 1939
* ''Melecta
''Melecta'' is a genus of digger-cuckoo bees in the family Apidae. There are at least 50 described species in ''Melecta''.
Species
These 55 species belong to the genus ''Melecta'':
* '' Melecta aegyptiaca'' Radoszkowski, 1876
* '' Melecta albi ...
'' Latreille 1802 (= ''Bombomelecta'', ''Symmorpha'')
* '' Sinomelecta'' Baker 1997
* '' Tetralonioidella'' Strand 1914 (= ''Callomelecta'', ''Protomelissa'')
* '' Thyreomelecta'' Rightmyer & Engel 2003
* ''Thyreus
''Thyreus'' is an Old World genus of bees, one of many that are commonly known as cuckoo bees, and are cleptoparasites of other species of bees, mostly in the genus ''Amegilla
''Amegilla'' is a large genus of bees in the tribe Anthophorini. ...
'' Panzer 1806 (= ''Crocissa'', ''Crocisa'')
* ''Zacosmia
''Zacosmia'' is a genus of digger and cuckoo bees in the family 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 ...
'' Ashmead 1898 (= ''Micromelecta'')
Some of these (''Afromelecta, Melecta'') have subgenera
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
which some authors may consider independent genera.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1942008
Apinae
Bee tribes