Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Subfamily Halictinae - Sweat and Furrow Bees

Small bee - possibly Lasioglossum? - Lasioglossum halictid 1 - Agapostemon virescens - male Green bee - Agapostemon (Lasioglossum (Dialictus) female - Lasioglossum - female Sphecodes from New Brunswick - Sphecodes Unknown bee - Halictus - female Halictus poeyi with Pyrausta tyralis! - Halictus poeyi Augochlora? - female
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 (Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees)
Family Halictidae (Sweat, Furrow, Nomiine, and Short-faced Bees)
Subfamily Halictinae (Sweat and Furrow Bees)
Numbers
~400 spp. in 10 genera of 2 tribes in our area, ~3,500 spp. in 55 genera of 3 tribes worldwide(1)
Range
one tribe is cosmopolitan, another is primarily neotropical, and the third is restricted to the Old World (mostly warmer parts); S. American fauna shows the most diversity at generic level(1)
Remarks
Most species nest in burrows in banks or in the ground (Augochlora uses partially rotten logs). Some are primitively eusocial; in such cases usually a female guards the entrance to the burrow by plugging it with her head. Generally the main burrow is vertical; it sends horizontal branches, each branch ending in a solitary cell. (2)
Communal nest of Agapostemon virescens
Subcortical nest of Augochlora pura