''Melitta'' is a genus of bees in the family

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 temperate zone. Fossil melittids have been found oc ...

. It includes about 40 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. Most of the species are

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, though three rare species occur in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. They are bees of moderate size, generally 8 to 15 mm long. They are commonly

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 ...

, with narrow host plant preferences. They resemble bees of the genus ''

Andrena ''Andrena'' is a genus of bees in the family Andrenidae. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals. It is a strongly monophyletic group that is difficult to split into more manageable divisions; currently, ''Andrena'' i ...

'', though with radically different mouthparts and a

scopa ''Scopa'' (; literally "broom") is an Italian card game, and one of the three major national card games in Italy, the others being ''Briscola'' and ''Tresette''. It is also popular in Argentina and Brazil, brought in by Italian immigrants, mostly ...

limited to the hind tibia and basitarsus. Melitta have a crucial role as pollinators and they are protected through the Pollinators policy based on EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

Species

* '' Melitta aegyptiaca'' (Radoszkowski, 1891) * '' Melitta albida'' Cockerell, 1935 * '' Melitta americana'' (Smith, 1853) * '' Melitta arrogans'' (Smith, 1879) * '' Melitta barbarae'' Eardley, 2006 * '' Melitta bicollaris'' Warncke, 1973 * '' Melitta budashkini'' Radchenko & Ivanov, 2012 * '' Melitta budensis'' (Mocsáry, 1878) * '' Melitta californica'' Viereck, 1909 * '' Melitta cameroni'' (Cockerell, 1910) * '' Melitta changmuensis'' Wu, 1988 * '' Melitta danae'' Eardley, 2006 * '' Melitta dimidiata'' Morawitz, 1876 * '' Melitta eickworti'' Snelling & Stage, 1995 * '' Melitta engeli'' Michez, 2012 * '' Melitta ezoana'' Yasumatsu & Hirashima, 1956 * '' Melitta fulvescenta'' Wu, 2000 * '' Melitta guichardi'' Michez, 2007 * '' Melitta haemorrhoidalis'' (Fabricius, 1775) * '' Melitta harrietae'' (Bingham, 1897) * '' Melitta heilungkiangensis'' Wu, 1978 * '' Melitta hispanica'' Friese 1900 * '' Melitta iberica'' Warncke, 1973 * '' Melitta japonica'' Yasumatsu & Hirashima, 1956 * '' Melitta kastiliensis'' Warncke, 1973 * '' Melitta katherinae'' Eardley, 2006 * '' Melitta latronis'' Cockerell, 1924 * ''

Melitta leporina 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 ...

'' (Panzer, 1799) * '' Melitta magnifica'' Michez, 2012 * '' Melitta maura'' (Pérez, 1896) * '' Melitta melanura'' (Nylander, 1852) * '' Melitta melittoides'' (Viereck, 1909) * '' Melitta mongolica'' Wu, 1978 * '' Melitta montana'' Wu, 1992 * '' Melitta murciana'' Warncke, 1973 * '' Melitta nigrabdominalis'' Wu, 1988 * '' Melitta nigricans'' Alfken, 1905 * '' Melitta piersbakeri'' Engel, 2005 * '' Melitta rasmonti'' Michez, 2007 * '' Melitta schmiedeknechti'' Friese, 1898 * '' Melitta schultzei'' Friese, 1909 * '' Melitta seitzi'' Alfken 1927 * '' Melitta sibirica'' (Morawitz, 1888) * '' Melitta singular'' Michez, 2012 * '' Melitta tomentosa'' Friese, 1900 * '' Melitta tricincta'' Kirby, 1802 * '' Melitta udmurtica'' Sitdikov 1986 * '' Melitta whiteheadi'' Eardley, 2006

References

* C. D. Michener (2000) ''The Bees of the World'', Johns Hopkins University Press.

External links

Melitta Identification Guide List of SpeciesWorldwide Species Map
Bee genera Melittidae Taxa named by William Kirby (entomologist) {{Bee-stub