Wikipedia

Epeolus

Epeolus is a genus of cuckoo bees in the family Apidae.[1] They are often known as variegated cuckoo-bees.[citation needed] The species is uncommon to rare,[2] and has strong patterns of black and white on the thorax and abdomen.[2] These patterns are made of tiny fat hairs lying flush with the integument or "skin" of the bee.[2] It is easily mistaken for Triepeolus, but is almost always smaller.[2]

Epeolus
Epeolus australis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Tribe: Epeolini
Genus: Epeolus
Latreille, 1802
Type species
Epeolus variegatus
Species

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Epeolus tarsalis

Biology

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The species within Epeolus are medium-sized bees with bright patterns. There are currently approximately 100 species described from throughout the world. All known species of Epeolus are cleptoparasites of mining bees of the genus Colletes. The female enters the nesting excavated by the female Colletes bee and lays an egg in an unsealed cell. The Epeolus larva then consumes the egg of the host bee and then feeds on the pollen the Colletes bee provisioned the cell with for her offspring. Epeolus bees may be rather obvious and easily observed in the vicinity of the nesting aggregations of their hosts and often use the same flowers to feed on.[3] Colletes bees line their nesting cells with a cellophane like covering which they exude from the Dufour's gland to protect the cell from moisture and fungal infection,[4] female Epeolus bees have spines on the end of their abdomens which they use to pierce u-shaped holes in this covering so that she can oviposit between its layers, she also secretes a small amount of glue so that the egg adheres to the cell.[5]

Species

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The following species are currently classified in the genus Epeolus:[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Genus Epeolus Latreille". An Annotated Catalogue of the Bee Species of the Indian Region. Dr. Rajiv K. Gupta. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Droege, Sam (September 2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees. USGS.
  3. ^ "Epeolus (variegated cuckoo-bees)". Steven Falk. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  4. ^ Michael Kuhlmann (2007). "Molecular, biogeographical and phenological evidence for the existence of three western European sibling species in the Colletes succinctus group (Hymenoptera: Apidae)". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 7 (2): 155–165. Bibcode:2007ODivE...7..155K. doi:10.1016/j.ode.2006.04.001.
  5. ^ Joseph S. Wilson; Olivia J. Messinger Carril (2015). The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees. Princeton. p. 266. ISBN 978-1400874156.
  6. ^ "Epeolus Latreille, 1802". Bionames.org. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
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