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Afrotropical Bees

Bees (Anthophila) of the Afrotropical region

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Apoidea)


Laypersons guide on getting to know your bees by Connal Eardley: download pdf or view content below.


Bees of Sub-Saharan Africa poster by Lynn Katsoulis and Connal Eardley.

 


Explore the diversity and species richness within each family through these links:

Andrenidae

Apidae

Colletidae

Halictidae 

Megachilidae 

Melittidae

Guide to getting to know bees by Connal Eardley

 


Distribution Worldwide.
Biology Either provision the nest with arthropods as food for the larva ("spheciformes" wasps) or provision the nest with pollen and nectar (bees - Anthophila).

References

Aguiar AP, Deans AR, Engel MS, Forshage M, Huber JT, Jennings JT, Johnson NF, Lelej AS, Longino JT, Lohrmann V, Miko I. 2013. Order Hymenoptera. In: Zhang, Z.-Q.(Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013). Zootaxa 3703: 51-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.12

Arnold, G. 1960. Aculeate Hymenoptera from the Drakensberg Mountains, Natal. Annals of the Natal Museum 15: 79-87.

Branstetter MG, Childers AK, Cox-Foster D, Hopper KR, Kapheim KM, Toth AL, Worley KC. 2018. Genomes of the Hymenoptera. Current Opinion in Insect Science 25: 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.008

Brothers D.J. 1999. Phylogeny and evolution of wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Vespoidea and Apoidea) Zoologica Scripta 28: 233–250.

Debevec AH, Cardinal S, Danforth BN. 2012. Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of Aculeata with an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea. Zoologica scripta 41: 527-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00549.x

Eardley, C & Urban, R. 2010. Catalogue of Afrotropical bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes). Zootaxa 2455: 1-548.

Eardley, C, Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Eardley C.,Kuhlmann M., Pauly A. 2010. The Bee Genera and Subgenera of sub-Saharan Africa. Abc Taxa vol 7: i-vi, 138 pp.

Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Gess, S.K. & Gess, F.W. 2014. Wasps and bees in southern Africa. SANBI Biodiversity Series 24. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. 320 pp.

Johnson BR, Borowiec ML, Chiu JC, Lee EK, Atallah J, Ward PS. 2013. Phylogenomics resolves evolutionary relationships among ants, bees, and wasps. Current Biology 23: 2058–2062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2013.08.050

Michener, C.D. 2000. The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press. 953 pp.

Peters RS, Krogmann L, Mayer C, Donath A, Gunkel S, Meusemann K, Kozlov A, Podsiadlowski L, Petersen M, Lanfear R, Diez PA. 2017. Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27:1013-1018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.027

Sharkey, M., 2007. Phylogeny and classification of Hymenoptera. Zootaxa 1668: 521–548.

Sharkey, M.J., Carpenter, J.M., Vilhelmsen, L., Heraty, J., Liljeblad, J., Dowling, A.P.G., Schulmeister, S., Murray, D., Deans, A.R., Ronquist, F., Krogmann, L. and Wheeler, W.C. 2012. Phylogenetic relationships among superfamilies of Hymenoptera. Cladistics 28: 80–112. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2011.00366.x

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort or Norman Larsen (Iziko Museums of South Africa) or © Duncan Butchart or © Sheila Dumesh (PCYU - Packer Collection York University) and Laurence Packer's website: Bee Tribes of the World. Photograph of Halictus © Ivan Andersen. Guide to getting to know your bees © Connal Eardley.


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

Copyright 2004-2024 Iziko Museums of South Africa

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