Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Includes Doeringiella sensu Michener (2000)
Numbers
Nearctica lists about 104 species.
Food
Present knowledge indicates that these are parasitic on Melissodes and possibly some of the other related eucerine genera.
Remarks
According to John Ascher ". . . 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."
Print References
Rightmyer, Molly G. 2004. Phylogeny and classification of the parasitic bee tribe Epeolini (Hymenoptera:Apidae, Nomadinae). Scientific Papers of the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas, no.33, 1-55.
