Other Common Names
Yellow-faced or Yellow-masked Bees is less appropriate for the genus as a whole as a large proportion of species have white masks (and other markings), not yellow.
Numbers
51 spp. in 8 subgenera in our area, 739 spp. in 52 subgenera worldwide
(1)
Subgenera not yet in the guide:
Metziella: monotypic subgenus (e. US -
map)
(1)
Prosopella: monotypic subgenus (sw. US -
map)
(1)
Identification
Unique yellow patterning on face beside the eyes (females) or extending across much of the lower face (males).
No metallic sheen.
No pollen-collecting hairs.
Two submarginal cells, with the second shorter than the first.
Face usually elongate, with eyes strongly converging below.
(3)Habitat
nest in a wide array of preexisting cavities (dead stems/twigs, old tunnels/burrows, earthen banks, wasp galls, hollow pieces of "flint stone", earthworm burrows, soda-straw traps, and nail holes (R.R. Shelling, pers. comm.).
H. leptocephalus was found nesting with halictid bees in cavities within an earthen bank.
Barrows 1975Remarks
Hylaeus lack external pollen transporting structures (e.g. scopa) and store pollen and nectar internally in a "honey stomach".
Print References
Metz C.W. (1911) A revision of the genus
Prosopis in North America. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 37 (2): 85-156.(
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1966) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 1. Distribution of the Western Species of the Subgenus
Prosopis with Descriptions of New Forms (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (98): 1-18.(
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1966) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 2. Description of a new subgenus and species. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 79: 139-144. (
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1966) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 3. The Nearctic Subgenera (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 65(3): 165-175. (
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1968) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 4. The subgenera
Cephalylaeus, Metziella and
Hylaeana (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (144): 1-6.(
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1970) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 5. The subgenus
Hylaeus, s. str. and
Paraprosopis (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (180): 1-59.(
Full Text)
Snelling R.R. (1983) Studies on North American Bees of the Genus
Hylaeus. 6. An adventive Palearctic species in Southern California (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 82: 12-16. (
Full Text)
