''Augochlorella'' is a genus in the

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

family

Halictidae Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees (clade Anthophila) with nearly 4,500 species. Halictid species are an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly in appearance. These bees occur all over the world and are found on every contine ...

, commonly called sweat bees. They display metallic coloration, ranging from reddish to gold to bluish green, as is typical for other genera in the tribe

Augochlorini Augochlorini is a tribe of sweat bees in the subfamily Halictinae. They are found in the Nearctic and Neotropic realms. They typically display metallic coloration, with many species that are red, gold, green, blue, or purple. Genera * '' An ...

Identification and appearance

''Augochlorella'' are very small sweat bees that are easily confused with the related genus ''

Augochlora ''Augochlora'' is a genus of sweat bee with over 100 species found across the Nearctic and Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical ter ...

'' but differentiated by the pointed tip of the marginal cell (squared off in ''Augochlora''), an orthogonal epistomal sulcus, and no strong basal lobe on the inner metatibial spur.''.'' These features can only be viewed under a microscope.

Origin and distribution

The tribe Augochlorini is distributed between northern Argentina to southern Canada, but mostly concentrated to the tropics of the Americas. They are the most abundant bees in the

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

fauna. Only a few species of ''Augochlorella'' reach the temperate

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

region. ''

Augochlorella striata ''Augochlorella'' is a genus in the bee family Halictidae, commonly called sweat bees. They display metallic coloration, ranging from reddish to gold to bluish green, as is typical for other genera in the tribe Augochlorini. Identification and ...

'' occurs further north than any other member of the tribe.

Sexual dimorphism

Both sexes of ''Augochlorella'' have an average length of , but males are more slender than females, and have relatively longer antennae.

Sociality

''Augochlorella'' bees are often eusocial, unlike many other Augochlorini, which are typically either

solitary Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to: * shortened form of solitary confinement * Solitary animal, an animal that does not live with others in its species * Solitary but social, a type of social organization in ...

semisocial Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

. An example of sociality in this genus is ''

Augochlorella aurata ''Augochlorella aurata'' is a species of Halictidae, sweat bee (bees attracted by the salt in human sweat) in the family Halictidae. It is found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The body is a brilliant green metallic color, diffused ...

'' which contains a mixture of solitary and social

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

foundresses. These fertile colony-establishing females produce an initial

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest bro ...

of 1-2 worker bees, which are female, before switching to a male-biased brood, while others produce males first. Female-biased broods can also occur in both solitary and eusocial nests, but that is less common. In this and other

eusocial Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generat ...

species,

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic regio ...

are mostly sterile and slightly smaller than their mothers. ''Augochlorella aurata'' tends to be solitary at high altitudes and latitudes. It’s also more often solitary in environments where the growing season is shorter, but if the growing season is longer then the species tends to be social. This tendency to base their sociality on the growing season can also be found in other bee species as well as in some species of spiders. A

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

Canadian climate can lead to reduced duration of brood production, fewer workers per nest, and fewer reproductive bees. Additionally, nest foundresses may produce a mixture of workers and reproductively-capable bees based on these conditions.

Nesting

''Augochlorella'' nests can be found in fields as well as wooded locations; well-drained areas, in a wide variety of habitats. The ground is usually flat or sloped and mostly bare. The nests are underground, and the bees create a cavity with a cluster of cells made of soil. There are many ways that bees construct their nests, but usually they excavate the cavity first and then create brood cells within that cavity. The cluster of cells is supported by additional pillars of soil. The burrow tends to be vertical and it can be anywhere from 5 to 25cm deep; the depth of the burrow depends on how moist the soil is. In part of its range, the species ''Augochlorella aurata'' is active from the start of April until the end of September. Females construct

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

balls, the sole food source for the offspring, starting the second week of May until the middle of August, and workers start expanding the nests in mid June. Queens start making their nests in the middle of April, and usually finish up around the first week of May. The number of cells the bees manage to make varies according to how many worker bees are present in the nest, but usually it is around three cells per female. After they lay the first set of eggs, there is a two week period of inactivity, and then another set is laid. The mean number of brood cells within the nests increases gradually during the summer, reaching a maximum of 12. Only a few cells are used twice and the number of offspring produced per nest average between 14 and 15, which shows that brood cells are not reused often. ''Augochlorella aurata'' and '' Augochlorella persimilis'' can sometimes occur together in mixed aggregations.

Ecological and economic importance

The genus ''Augochlorella'' consists of generalist pollinators, and visit plants such as ''

Apocynum cannabinum ''Apocynum cannabinum'' (dogbane, amy root, hemp dogbane, prairie dogbane, Indian hemp, rheumatism root, or wild cotton) is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows throughout much of North America—in the southern half of Canada and throughou ...

'', '' Erigeron strigosus'', ''

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium ''Pycnanthemum tenuifolium'', the narrowleaf mountainmint, slender mountainmint, common horsemint or Virginia thyme, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to central and eastern North America. Description ...

,'' '' Solidago odora'', and ''

Euthamia graminifolia ''Euthamia graminifolia'', the grass-leaved goldenrod or flat-top goldentop, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to much of Canada (from Newfoundland to British Columbia), and the northern and eastern Uni ...

''. ''Augochlorella aurata'' is found in

Rockefeller State Park Preserve Rockefeller State Park Preserve is a state park in Mount Pleasant, New York in the eastern foothills of the Hudson River in Westchester County. Common activities in the park include horse-riding, walking, jogging, running, bird-watching, and f ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where they can be seen pollinating

dogbane Dogbane, dog-bane, dog's bane, and other variations, some of them regional and some transient, are names for certain plants that are reputed to kill or repel dogs; "bane" originally meant "slayer", and was later applied to plants to indicate tha ...

fleabane Fleabane is a common name for some flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Most are in the subfamily Asteroideae: * '' Conyza'' (butterweeds or horseweeds: Astereae) * '' Erigeron'' (Astereae) * ''Inula'' ("yellowheads": Inuleae) * '' Pluchea ...

mountain mint ''Pycnanthemum'' is a genus of herbaceous plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Species in this genus are often referred to as "mountain mints" and they often have a minty or thyme-like aroma when crushed. All species of ''Pycnanthemum'' are ...

, wild roses, and

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genus ...

. Wild bees can be important pollinators in cities like New York and keep gardens and parks healthy. ''Augochlorella aurata'' is also an important pollinator for many wildflowers and crops, including

stone fruits In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, pome fruits,

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

, sunflower, pepper, strawberry, tomato and watermelon plants, making this species very valuable for commercial fruit and vegetable farming. In general, sweat bee populations will increase in an area if there are wildflowers and nesting areas available for them.

Parasites

The family Halictidae contains a few social

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

and cleptoparasitic bee genera, and these parasites affect the genus ''Augochlorella'' as well. Some prominent cleptoparasites include ''

Sphecodes ''Sphecodes'' is a genus of bees from the family Halictidae, the majority of which are black and red in colour and are colloquially known as blood bees. ''Sphecodes'' bees are kleptoparasitic on other bees, especially bees in the genera ''Lasioglo ...

'' (like '' Sphecodes pimpinellae''), '' Microsphecodes'', and some ''

Lasioglossum The sweat bee genus ''Lasioglossum'' is the largest of all bee genera, containing over 1700 species in numerous subgenera worldwide.Gibbs, J., et al. (2012)Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for ''Halictus'' an ...

'' species. ''Sphecodes'' females will typically kill the existing ''Augochlorella'' egg or larva in the cell before they lay their own egg. In most other cleptoparasitic species, eggs are laid on the unfinished cell walls or through sealed cells where the cleptoparasite larva will kill the existing egg or larva and eat the host's stored food. Mite associations with ''Augochlorella'' include '' Laelaspoides ordwayae'', which are kleptoparasites that feed on pollen stored in brood cells. Although ''Laelospoides'' usually do not harm the developing bee directly, the bee is harmed since there is less food available for it to consume.

Predators

''Augochlorella'' has many general predators including birds, asilid flies, and spiders.

Flight

The typical flight distance for ''Augochlorella aurata'' is 66-230 yd. (60-210 m).

Species

There are currently 17 described species of ''Augochlorella'': *'' Augochlorella acarinata'' Coelho, 2004 *''

'' (Smith, 1853) ''Augochlorella striata''/small> *'' Augochlorella bracteata'' Ordway, 1966 *'' Augochlorella comis'' (Vachal, 1911) *'' Augochlorella ephyra'' (Schrottky, 1910) *'' Augochlorella gratiosa'' (Smith, 1853) *'' Augochlorella iopoecila'' Moure, 1950 *'' Augochlorella iphigenia'' (Holmberg, 1886) *'' Augochlorella karankawa'' Coelho, 2004 *'' Augochlorella meridionalis'' Coelho, 2004 *'' Augochlorella neglectula'' (Cockerell, 1897) *'' Augochlorella persimilis'' (Viereck, 1910) *''

Augochlorella pomoniella ''Augochlorella pomoniella'' is a species of sweat bee in the family Halictidae Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees (clade Anthophila) with nearly 4,500 species. Halictid species are an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly ...

'' (Cockerell, 1915) *'' Augochlorella stenothoracica'' Coelho, 2004 *'' Augochlorella tredecim'' (Vachal, 1911) *'' Augochlorella una'' Coelho, 2004 *'' Augochlorella urania'' (Smith, 1853)