Anthophila (Apoidea) - Bees

English bee is from Old English bēo, that from Germanic roots, ultimately from the Indo-European bhī meaning bee, or insect (Wiktionary--bee, beo). Most modern European languages have a word for bee derived from this same Indo-European root. It seems likely that the word originated as an imitation of the buzzing of bees, i.e., it is echoic (Partridge, 1958).

Apoidea is from Latin apis meaning bee, and this particular Latin word does not appear to be related to the Indo-European word for bee (Wiktionary--apis).

Approximately 20,000 species worldwide; 4,000 in the US

Pronotum short, collar-like. Body usually very hairy. A distinctive feature of bees is that their hairs (at least some of them, particularly on the thorax) are branched or plumose; while those of wasps are simple. The hairs of bees collect pollen that they periodically brush and store on pollen transporting apparatus, brushes of hairs on the abdomen of Megachilidae or on basket-like structures on the hind tibia, as in the honey bee and related groups, (Apidae).

The bees that lay their eggs in other bees' nests, “cuckoo bees", look wasplike; they have less hair and lack pollen transporting apparatus.

OVERVIEW OF FAMILIES

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Worldwide, except polar regions.

Primarily nectar and pollen from flowers.

Pollen collecting bees are extremely important for the pollination of plants, including many crops such as most fruits and vegetables. Their pollinating services in the U. S. Have been estimated in the millions of dollars. Not only honey bees but many other species of bees play this role.

Honey bees and bumble bees are highly social; their colonies consist of a queen, workers and drones. Some halictid bees are primitively social.

Bee Genera of the World Based on Michener.

Hymenoptera of Cedar Creek

Bees of Florida

Discover Life

An Introduction to the Solitary Bees

Bee Vocabulary

PNAS The history of early bee diversification.

The Bee Genera of Eastern Canada.

Slide shows with guides to genera

NC State University Mitchell's The bees of the eastern United States

Dept. of Agriculture and aquaculture, Canada. Bee families that pollinate blueberries.