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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Anthophila (Apoidea) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Cuckoo Bees (Nomadinae) » Epeolini » Epeolus

Genus Epeolus

Another Cuckoo-Bee (Epeolini)? - Epeolus Bee - Epeolus bifasciatus Peters Bees for IDees - The Blurr - Epeolus compactus Epeolus bifasciatus milky-pink spot eyed, gray-white-marked, blackish Cuckoo Bee - Epeolus Bee - Epeolus scutellaris Bee 465A 0335 & 0336 - Epeolus Cuckoo bee? - Epeolus scutellaris
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Anthophila (Apoidea) - Bees)
Family Apidae (Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees)
Subfamily Nomadinae (Cuckoo Bees)
Tribe Epeolini
Genus Epeolus
Numbers
45 spp. in our area, >100 spp. worldwide/total(1)
Range
worldwide (map)(1)
Food
cleptoparasites of Colletes
Remarks
Differences in the shape of the pygidial plate are used for generic ID of males (shorter and broadly rounded in Epeolus; narrower and with sinuate margins in Triepeolus). This can be difficult to see even in pinned specimens so many males were described in the wrong genus, even by Cockerell and Mitchell! In females the obvious difference is the extent and configuration of a hair patch called the pseudopygidial area (shorter and more transverse in Epeolus). These hairs are often silvery. (J.S. Ascher's comment)
Works Cited
1.Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2016) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)
Contributed by Joel Kits on 16 April, 2005 - 8:50pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, John S. Ascher, v belov
Last updated 14 November, 2011 - 9:26am

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