Distribution

Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Biology

Solitary or eusocial with most nesting in the ground, some nest in wood.  Mass-provision individual cells with pollen and nectar, which are then sealed after a single egg is laid on the provision.

Reference

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

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.

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

Credits

Photographs © Connal Eardley, Michael Kuhlmann, Alain Pauly first published in Eardley et al. 2010.

Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).