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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Sweat, Furrow, Nomiine, and Short-faced Bees (Halictidae) » Nomiine Bees (Nomiinae) » Nomia

Genus Nomia

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Life Cycle · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Bee, I think. - Nomia melanderi - 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 Nomiinae (Nomiine Bees)

Genus Nomia

Explanation of Names

Author of genus is Latreille 1804

from Greek mythology: Nomia was a Naiad (river spirit)

Numbers

9 spp. (all in the subgenus Acunomia that contains >50 spp.) in our area, ~130 spp. in 7 subgenera worldwide/total(1)

Size

9-22 mm

Identification

Front wing with three submarginal cells; first and third submarginal cells subequal in length: abdominal terga often with green or testaceous apical integumental bands. ('Bees of Florida', referenced below)

Very round faces. Eyes curve and meld into clypeus. Nomia has smooth bands of ivory tinged with blue or green on abdomen. (2)

Range

Much of the world but poorly represented in the Palaearctic (none in Europe & n. Asia) and south of Mexico (map); in our area, across the US (only 2 spp. east of the Mississippi River) but none reaches Canada(1)

Season

Typically Jul-Aug, later in south

Life Cycle

Females are gregarious, but each excavates its own nest in soil, often alkali or clay. (Some species are called "alkali bees".)

Remarks

Some, esp. N. melanderi, are managed commercially for the pollination of alfalfa.(3)

Internet References

Discover Life

GBIF

iNaturalist

Moure's Bee Catalogue

Bold Systems

Bees of Florida(4)--includes key to genera, Subfamily Nomiinae (Nomia, Dieunomia)

Works Cited

1.	Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2017) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)

2.	The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees. Joseph S. Wilson & Olivia J. Messinger Carril. 2015. Princeton University Press.

3.	Entomology and pest management. Third Edition L.P. Pedigo. 1999. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 691 pp.

4.	The Bees of Florida

Contributed by Ethan Friedman on 27 July, 2005 - 6:54am
Additional contributions by cotinis, Hannah Nendick-Mason, Beatriz Moisset, v belov, Marci Hess, Nathaniel Green
Last updated 16 March, 2021 - 12:57am

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