Colletidae
Common Seidenbiene ( Colletes daviesanus )
The Bee Family Colletidae was once regarded as the most primitive family of bees and therefore designated by the German name Urbienen, an assessment that now contests strong.
Some Colletidae are goiter collector, that is they have no outer pollen collection facilities and are therefore also sometimes referred to as goiter bees. The assumption that it could thereby be a primitive character, is considered refuted. Also the physique for example the mask bees ( small, black, hairless, oblong- cylindrical body shape ), reminiscent of some grave wasps is interpreted as an adaptation to the special way of life. The strongest argument for an initial status of the family is the short, broad tongue that widens at the front end, has two columns, two-lobed, sometimes drawn out into two peaks. All females and almost all males have such a tab, the first of these occurred at the grave wasps, but in no other bees. Another indication for the monophyly of the group is the parchment-like lining, these bees provided with their brood cells.
It is a group of relatively different multiform bees. So get very small bees ( a few millimeters ) to moderately large bees ( 15 mm ) in front. The abdomen can be almost completely bald, but also long haired. Characteristic, as mentioned above, the short tongue width.
The females carry the pollen either on the hind legs or goiter.
The bees in this family are always solitary bees. The females lay eggs in brood cells coated by passage of a glandular secretion with a shell made of cellophane or parchment-like material. Probably, this coating prevents the drying of the introduced larvae as food pollen - nectar mixture.
The family includes five subfamilies with a total of 54 genera and about 2000 species. It occurs throughout the world, but is most biologically diverse in South America and Australia. In Australia, more than 50 % of the occurring bee species belong to it. In the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, only the two genera of the plasterer bees ( Colletes ) and the mask bees ( Hylaeus ) occur.
Subfamilies and genera
- Colle Tinae ( cosmopolitan ) Plasterer bees ( Colletes ) Spring Seidenbiene ( Colletes cunicularius )
- Common Seidenbiene ( Colletes daviesanus )
- Ivy Seidenbiene ( Colletes hederae )
- Mask bees ( Hylaeus )
Sources and links
- British Insects: the Families of Hymenoptera - Colletidae
- Bee Phylogeny - Colletidae
- Phylogeny Bee - Bee Biogeography and Distribution
- Colletidae ( bees)
- Colletidae