''Epeoloides'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when foo ...
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 ...
s which lay their eggs in the nests of
melittid bees of the genus ''
Macropis
''Macropis'' is a genus of bees in the family Melittidae.
Description
''Macropis'' species are of moderate size, not exceeding 15 mm. They have a livery predominantly black; males are characterized by conspicuous yellow markings on the hea ...
''.
Consists of two
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
:
*''
Epeoloides coecutiens
''Epeoloides'' is a genus of kleptoparasitic bees which lay their eggs in the nests of melittid bees of the genus ''Macropis''.
Consists of two species:
*'' Epeoloides coecutiens'' (
*'' Epeoloides pilosulus'' (Cresson, 1878)
References
...
'' (
Fabricius, 1775)
*''
Epeoloides pilosulus
''Epeoloides pilosulus'' is one of only two species in the bee genus ''Epeoloides''; it is cleptoparasitic in the nests of melittid bees of the genus ''Macropis''. Known to exist in only a handful of localities in the northeastern United State ...
''
(Cresson, 1878)
References
Apinae
Bee genera
{{Apinae-stub