Melittidae is a small

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, with over 200 described species in three subfamilies. The family has a limited distribution, with all described species restricted to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the northern temperate zone. Fossil melittids have been found occasionally in

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

amber deposits, including those of Oise, France and the

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

Evolution

Early molecular work suggested that the family Melittidae was sister to all other bees, and also that it was

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

. Because of this finding, it was suggested that the three subfamilies of Melittidae should be elevated to family status. Neither study included many melittids, due to their rarity. Later studies suggested that the family could still be monophyletic and a 2013 investigation including a greater number of melittid bees further supports this. Recent research has shown that Melittids have a lower extinction rate compared to other

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

ns, yet this family is considered species-poor. This is attributed to a significantly lower diversification rate as seen in other bee families. Danforth et al. suggests that this is because they are oligoleges. Whereas other bees express polylecty (diverse host-plant preferences) allowing them to increase their diversification rate compared to melittids. Evidence of oil-collection behaviour has been present in melittids since the early Eocene. Amber from Oise,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

provided the oldest record of Melittidae and the fourth oldest fossilized bee specimen.

Characteristics

Melittids are typically small to moderate-sized bees, which are well known for their specialist and

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 ...

foraging habits. Melittids are strictly solitary and they nest in burrows that they dig in soil or sand. All females can reproduce and tend to emerge from the ground some days before the male. They generally mate on host-plants surrounding the area they have emerged. After mating, the

gravid In biology and human medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a woman is or has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional te ...

female creates a burrow where they bring pollen. On top of the pollen, one egg is laid. This is consumed by the larva over 10 days, after which the larva

overwinters Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activi ...

and

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

tes in the next year. Many melittids (such as '' Macropis'') possess specialized morphology that allow them to collect floral oil.

Classification

The following genera are classified under Melittidae: *'' Afrodasypoda'' *''

Capicola Capocollo () or coppa () is a traditional Italian and Corsican pork cold cut ('' salume'') made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck. It is a whole-muscle salume, dry cured, an ...

'' *'' Ceratomonia'' *''

Dasypoda ''Dasypoda'' is a genus of bees in the family Melittidae. Species * ''Dasypoda albimana'' Pérez, 1905 * '' Dasypoda albipila'' Spinola, 1838 * ''Dasypoda altercator'' (Harris 1780) * ''Dasypoda argentata'' Panzer 1809 * '' Dasypoda aurata'' Ru ...

'' *'' Eremaphanta'' *'' Haplomelitta'' *''

Hesperapis ''Hesperapis'' is a genus of evening bees in the family Melittidae. There are at least 30 described species in ''Hesperapis''.Michez D. (2008) ''Monographic revision of the melittid bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Melittidae sensu lato)].'' Proc. Net ...

'' *'' Macropis'' *'' Magnomia'' *''

Melitta Melitta () is a German company selling coffee, paper coffee filters, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which has branches in other countries. The company is headquartered in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is named after Meli ...

'' *'' Pseudophilanthus'' *'' Promelitta'' *''

Rediviva ''Rediviva'' is a genus of bees in the Melittidae Melittidae is a small bee family, with over 200 described species in three subfamilies. The family has a limited distribution, with all described species restricted to Africa and the northern ...

'' *'' Redivivoides'' *''

Samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

'' *'' Uronomia''

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

Online guides to eastern North American Melittidae
Bee families Hymenoptera of Africa Eocene insects Cenozoic insects Extant Eocene first appearances {{bee-stub