The cleptoparasitic bee genus ''Osiris'' is a rare group of apid bees from 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 ...

(

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 ...

through

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 ...

), that lay their eggs in the nests of bees in the related tribe

Tapinotaspidini The Tapinotaspidini are a tribe of apid bees. Genera *'' Arhysoceble'' *'' Caenonomada'' *'' Chalepogenus'' *'' Monoeca'' *'' Paratetrapedia'' *'' Tapinotaspis'' *'' Tapinotaspoides'' *'' Trigonopedia'' References * C. D. Michener (2000) ''The ...

, such as '' Paratetrapedia''. Most of the known species are pale yellowish, smooth and shining, and very

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

-like in appearance. Females in this tribe are unusual in having the last

metasoma The metasoma is the posterior part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the mesosoma. In insects, it contains most of the digestive tract, respiratory system, and circula ...

l sternite elongated to form a sheath for the

sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

, which is remarkably long.

References

Shanks, S. S. (1986). A revision of the neotropical bee genus Osiris (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Wasmann J. Biol. 44 (1-2): 1-56 * C. D. Michener (2000) ''The Bees of the World'', Johns Hopkins University Press. Apinae Bee genera Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Insects of Central America Insects of Brazil Insects of Mexico Taxa named by Frederick Smith (entomologist) {{Apinae-stub