''Diadasia'' is a genus of
bees
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 monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
in family
Apidae
Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...
. Species of ''Diadasia'' are
oligolectic
The term oligolecty is used in pollination ecology to refer to bees that exhibit a narrow, specialized preference for pollen sources, typically to a single family or genus of flowering plants. The preference may occasionally extend broadly to mult ...
, specialized on a relatively small number of plant species.
Their host plants include
asters
''Aster'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Its circumscription has been narrowed, and it now encompasses around 170 species, all but one of which are restricted to Eurasia; many species formerly in ''Aster'' are ...
,
bindweeds,
cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
,
mallows, and
willowherbs, although mallows are the most common and likely ancestral host plant for the whole genus. Its tribe is
Emphorini
The Emphorini are a tribe of apid bees.
Genera
*'' Alepidosceles''
*'' Diadasia''
*'' Diadasina''
**'' Diadasina'' (''Diadasina'')
**'' Diadasina'' ('' Leptometriella'')
*'' Meliphilopsis''
*''Melitoma''
*'' Melitomella''
*''Ptilothrix
...
.
In the
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...
, ''Diadasia rinconis'' is considered the "cactus bee" as it feeds almost exclusively on a number of Sonoran Desert cactus species, its life cycle revolving around the flowering of the native species of cacti.
Species
These 42 species belong to the genus ''Diadasia''.
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References
Hymenoptera of North America
Fauna of the Western United States
Insects of Mexico
Apinae
Bee genera
{{Apinae-stub