Sphecodes

Sphecodes
Sphecodes gibbus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Halictidae
Subfamily: Halictinae
Genus: Sphecodes
Latreille, 1804
Type species
Sphecodes gibbus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Species

see text

Sphecodes is a genus of cuckoo bees from the family Halictidae, the majority of which are black and red in colour and are colloquially known as blood bees.[1] Sphecodes bees are kleptoparasitic on other bees, especially bees in the genera Lasioglossum, Halictus and Andrena. The adults consume nectar, but because they use other bees' provisions to feed their offspring they do not collect pollen.[2]

Distribution

Sphecodes is a cosmopolitan genus with species represented on every continent.[2] The genus is also very species rich, with 21 species described from Siberia,[3] 33 species from Central Europe,[2] 17 species from the Indian region,[4] 26 from the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding region,[5] and 21 from Southeast Asia.[6] The genus is only represented in Australia in the northeast, with the species Sphecodes albilabris being thought to have been introduced to both Australia and the United States by accident.[2]

Species

There are over 300 known species in the genus Sphecodes.[7][8][4][9] As of 2015, there were 319 valid species described.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Prakash, Anju Sara; Jobiraj, T.; Bijoy, C. (2020). "A checklist of bees (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Kerala". Entomon. 45 (3): 189–200. doi:10.33307/entomon.v45i3.550. S2CID 229027699.
  2. ^ a b c d e Özbek, Hikmet; Bogusch, Petr; Straka, Jakub (2015). "A contribution to the kleptoparasitic bees of Turkey: Part I.,the genus Sphecodes Latreille (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)". Turkish Journal of Zoology. 39: 1095–1109. doi:10.3906/zoo-1501-43.
  3. ^ a b Astafurova, Yulia V.; Proshchalykin, Maxim (2015). "Bees of the genus Sphecodes Latreille 1804 of Siberia, with a key to species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae)". Zootaxa. 4052 (1): 65–95. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4052.1.3. PMID 26624777.
  4. ^ a b "Genus Sphecodes Latreille". An Annotated Catalogue of the Bee Species of the Indian Region. Dr. Rajiv K. Gupta. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e Astafurova, Yulia V.; Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu.; Schwarz, Maximilian (2019). "The distribution of the genus Sphecodes Latreille (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding countries with description of hitherto unknown female of S. atlanticus Warncke, 1992 and male of S. dathei Schwarz, 2010". ZooKeys (872): 13–40. Bibcode:2019ZooK..872...13A. doi:10.3897/zookeys.872.35361. PMC 6711934. PMID 31496884.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Astafurova, Yulia V.; Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu.; Schwarz, Maximilian (2020). "New and little-known species of the genus Sphecodes Latreille (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) from Southeast Asia". ZooKeys (937): 31–88. Bibcode:2020ZooK..937...31A. doi:10.3897/zookeys.937.51708. PMC 7280318. PMID 32547298.
  7. ^ "Sphecodes Latreille, 1804". GBIF.org. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  8. ^ Petr Bogusch; Jakob Straka (2012). "Review and identification of the cuckoo bees of central Europe (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Sphecodes)". Zootaxa. 3311: 1–41. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3311.1.1.
  9. ^ Astafurova, Yulia V.; Proshchalykin, Maxim (2014). "The bees of the genus Sphecodes Latreille 1804 of the Russian Far East, with key to species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae)". Zootaxa. 3887 (5): 501–528. doi:10.11646/Zootaxa.3887.5.1. PMID 25543947.