Big Bees – Part 2

Acknowledgements This presentation has been put together by a

consortium of North American bee biologists This presentation has developed over many

years and the original web picture acknowledgements were lost, if you see one of your pictures let us know and we will add your picture credit

Correspondence can be sent to Sam Droege at sdroege@usgs.gov

Format

Each Genus has an information page followed by a page of illustrations and a map of the distribution of Eastern North American species; western populations of Eastern species are shown, but the Western species are not mapped

The number of Eastern species are listed at the top of the page

Bee Song

Bees in the late summer sun

Drone their song

Of yellow moons

Trimming black velvet

Droning, droning a sleepysong.

- Carl Sandburg

Apidae (Recently Combined with Anthophoridae)Groups of Genera Covered in Apidae1

Presentation:

Anthophora – 6 species Melecta - 1 Habropoda - 1 Holcopasites - 3 Neolarra - 1 Nomada - 80 Centris – 3 Ericrocis - 1 Ptilothrix – 1 Cemolobus - 1 Xylocopa – 2 Ceratina – 4 Euglossa - 1 Epeoloides – 1

Covered in this presentation:

Peponapis - 1 Xenoglossa - 2 Apis - 1 Bombus - 20 Anthophorula - 2 Exomalopsis - 1 Eucera - 7 Florilegus - 1 Melissodes – 27 Triepeolus - 23 Epeolus - 20 Melitoma - 1 Svastra - 5 Tetraloniella - 2 Xeromelecta - 2

Peponapis pruinosa A bit larger than a honeybee to which it superficially resembles in

the field Common, squash and pumpkin specialist, found primarily on those

plants or in bowl traps Out at dawn but usually inactive after mid-morning From the SIDE the profile of the clypeus bows out like the bill of a

parrot Female has oval tegulae, a notched end to its mandible and the

pollen carrying hairs on the basitarsi are sparser than most other Eucerines and there is an inner row of very dense shorter hairs running down the posterior margin, that is distinctive once you figure out where it is

S6 characters of the male are important in distinguishing it from Eucera

Similar genera: Melecta, Xeromelecta, Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus, Melissodes

Peponapis pruinosa– Squash Bee

Common – Every squash patch

Xenoglossa A little bit larger than a honeybee Very similar to Peponapis pruinosa (has projecting

clypeus) but does not have the notched mandible tip, restricted largely to the South, and generally less common

Both males and females have a distinctive tooth along the INNER margin of the mandibles, but these are difficult to impossible to see when the mandibles are tightly closed

Male’s first flagellar segment often longer than other genera

Similar genera: Melecta, Xeromelecta, Anthophora, Melissodes, Peponapis, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus

Xenoglossa - 2

Apis

Size of a honeybee because, of course, it is the honeybee

Long hair on they compound eyes distinctive, only Coelioxys has hair on the eyes and then only short hair

Hind tibia in the female is wide, flattened, and smooth except for hair around the outside edges

Males are very rarely seen or collected

Apismellifera

Bombus The only native colonial bee Unique in that the hind wing has no jugal lobe Parasitic members were considered in the past to be a

separate Genus (Psithyrus) Non-parasitic females have a wide tibia, the outer side of

which is completely bare in the center (corbiculate) and surrounded by long hairs

Patterns of yellow, black, reddish hairs often, but not always, unique to species, several species pairs have to be identified under the microscope

Several other genera have species that look similar: Habropoda, Anthophora, Ptilothrix, Xylocopa

Bombus - 20The only native true colonial bee, some parasitic species (Psythrus)

Anthophorula Extremely rare, a little more than half the size

of a honeybee 2 species, one is a specialist on asters and the

other on Agalinis The pollen carrying hairs are very dense and

voluminous Has a truncate marginal cell, but unlike most

others in that group has 3 submarginal cells Most similar to, and in the past lumped with,

Exomalopsis, which in the males has a dark clypeus unlike the yellow one in Anthophorula

Similar genera: Exomalopsis

Anthophorula - 2Small, compact, bushy scopa, very rare

Exomalopsis similis Extremely rare, only 3 records from

south Florida (1 recent) About half the size of a honeybee Very similar to Anthophorula in having 3

submarginal cells and a truncate marginal cell

Unlike Anthophorula, the males have a dark clypeus

Similar genera: Anthophorula

Exomalopsis similis

Small, very rare, bushy scopa – FL, GA

Eucera About 1.5 times as large as a honeybee, uncommon Spring

bees Key features are the oval tegula, projecting clypeus, the

relatively large distance between the lateral edges of the clypeus and the eye and S6 characters in the males (in most other genera the sides of the clypeus touch the rim of the eye or are within a pit diameter of the eye)

The tegula is usually covered with hair and needs to be scraped all the way to the tip with a pin to remove hairs to detect the shape

In profile, the clypeus of the female often projects outward (similar to Peponapis), making it look rather parrot-beak-like

Most other species in similar groups occur later in the year Similar genera: Melissodes, Tetraloniella, Melecta,

Xeromelecta, Cemolobus, Anthophora, Florilegus, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Svastra

Eucera – 7 Spring Eucerine

Uncommon

Florilegus

Uncommon, pollen specialist on Pickerelweed (Pontedaria)

Shape of the S6 distinct in males Basitibial plate in females helpful in

discriminating it from other genera Similar genera: Melissodes, Melecta,

Eucera, Tetraloniella, Melitoma, Svastra, Anthophora, Peponapis

Florilegus condignus

Uncommon, Pickerelweed

Melissodes Common to relatively common from mid-Summer to Fall Varies in size from about the same as a honeybee to

almost twice its size Female is often mistaken for other genera, the tegula is

elongated towards the bee’s head and the upper, outside edge is either straight or slightly concave, however, to see this the hairs on the tegula have to be scraped off all the way to the tip

Males have spines on the far sides of T7, but note that these can be hidden in the hair and please be careful about spines on S6-S7 looking like they are on T7

Similar genera: Melecta, Xeromelecta, Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus

Melissodes – 27 Fall Composites

Common

Triepeolus Uncommon to rare, honeybee sized, mid-Summer to Fall

nest parasite of Melissodes and a few other genera Triepeolus, Epeolus, and Xeromelecta all have unique

and distinctive color patterns on their abdomens and thoraxes composed of minute, prone hairs. Also present are prominent and projecting axilae (not present or obvious in Xeromelecta)

Triepeolus can often be told from Epeolus by simply being larger, but see the technical details given in the guides to be sure

Similar genera: Epeolus, Epeoloides, Ericrocis, Xeromelecta

Triepeolus – 23 Melissodes parasite

Epeolus Almost always smaller than a honeybee, uncommon to

rare. Present largely from late Spring until Fall Nest parasite of Colletes, and consequently, the female

lacks pollen carrying hairs Very similar to Triepeolus in the presence of bold patterns

of minute prone hairs, and projecting axilae Told from Triepeolus by the pattern of the pseudopygidial

area, S6, and size and shape of pygidial area, usually, however, the much smaller size of Epeolus is a strong indication of Epeolus rather than Triepeolus

Similar genera: Triepeolus, Epeoloides, Ericrocis

Epeolus - 20 Parasite of Colletes

Smaller than Triepeolus

Svastra Large, 1.5 to 2x the size of honeybees Late Summer and Fall species Indicator of high quality field/prairie habitat Unlike other Eucerines has spatulate hairs. These hairs look like tiny,

transparent, table knives and are not significantly longer than the surrounding hairs. These hairs primarily occur at the BASE of T2 peaking out from under the rim of T1 along with more abundant simple hairs, usually present only in small numbers and difficult to impossible to see in most species, so often not a useful character, but one worth looking for

Told from female Melissodes by the clearly oval shape of the tegula (hairs must be scraped from the tip)

Told from Eucera by nearly complete lack of overlap in occurrence (Eucera come out in the Spring and early Summer) and the relatively wide distance between the sides of the clypeus and the eye in Eucera (this gap often the size of the width of the antennae)

Similarly told from the rarer Tetraloniella by the greater distance between eye and sides of clypeus

In unworn specimens there is USUALLY a distinct tuft of longer hairs in the center of the metanotum, the surrounding hairs clearly much shorter, in other groups these hairs are uniform in height

Similar genera: Melecta, Xeromelecta, Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Melissodes, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus

Svastra – 5 - Monster Eucerines

Associated with high quality summer and fall composite fields

Tetraloniella Rare to uncommon species, associated with prairie

habitats in the Midwest Extremely fast fliers (Eucerines, in general, are fast fliers,

but these are the champs) Most similar to Eucera (Mitchell had these two genera

lumped together), but the clypeus less projecting that in Eucera

In the male the tibial spurs of the middle legs are relatively short, extending in length to less than half that of the tibia

Similar genera: Melecta, Xeromelecta, Anthophora, Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Melissodes, Cemolobus

Tetraloniella - 2

Rare, prairie bees

Xeromelecta Extremely rare Known only from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana Nest parasite of Anthophora abrupta and consequently

the female has no pollen carrying hairs Marginal cell very short, extending only to about the outer

edge of the submarginal cells Told from the somewhat similar Melecta by the shape of

the claws of the middle and hind legs Similar genera: Melecta, Melissodes, Anthophora,

Xenoglossa, Peponapis, Florilegus, Melitoma, Eucera, Svastra, Tetraloniella, Cemolobus

Xeromelecta - 2 – Anthophora Parasite

Rare

Resources Species lists, Identification Guides, and Maps for

genera and species are available at: http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Apoidea A guide to the genera of the bees of Canada is

available at:http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/pgs_03/pgs_03.html Mitchell’s 1960’s book on the bees of the Eastern United

States is available as a series of pdf files at:http://insectmuseum.org/easternBees.php A slightly out of date guide to the identification of the genera

of ALL of North America is available at:http://www.knoxcellars.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc?

Screen=PROD&Store_Code=KCNP&Product_Code=BGNA&Category_Code=BL