''Exaerete'' 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 ...

euglossine The tribe (biology), tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of Pollen basket, corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess Eusociality, eusocial behavior. ...

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 found from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Like all

orchid bee The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description Most of the tribe's species ...

s, they are restricted to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

. All but one species is metallic green, and they are

cleptoparasite 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 ...

s in the nests of other euglossines in the genera ''

Eufriesea ''Eufriesea'' is a genus of euglossine bees. Like all orchid bees, they are restricted to the Neotropics. All species range from entirely to at least partially metallic (the face and/or tegulae), though much of the body in some species may be br ...

'' and ''

Eulaema ''Eulaema'' is a genus of large-bodied euglossine bees that occur primarily in the Neotropics. They are robust brown or black bees, hairy or velvety, and often striped with yellow or orange, typically resembling bumblebees. They lack metallic co ...

''. It contains the following species: * '' Exaerete azteca'' Moure, 1964 * '' Exaerete dentata'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * '' Exaerete fallaciosa'' Engel, 2018 * '' Exaerete frontalis'' (Guérin-Méneville, 1845) * '' Exaerete kimseyae'' Oliviera, 2011 * '' Exaerete lepeletieri'' Oliviera & Nemesio, 2003 * '' Exaerete salsai'' Nemesio, 2011 * '' Exaerete smaragdina'' (Guérin-Méneville, 1845) * '' Exaerete tricosa'' Engel & Bembé, 2020 * '' Exaerete trochanterica'' (Friese, 1900)

References

External links

* David Roubik (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
Diagnostic photographs of several ''Exaerete'' species
Bee genera Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Euglossini Orchid pollinators {{Apinae-stub