Macropis

Macropis
	Macropis sp.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Melittidae
Subfamily:	Melittinae
Genus:	Macropis; Panzer, 1809
Species
	See text

Macropis is a genus of bees in the family Melittidae. They are very rare and were likely more common in the past.^[1]^[when?] They are associated with yellow loosestrife plants in the genus Lysimachia.^[2]

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 head, but the females show morphological adaptations related to their foraging habits of flower oils, posterior tibiae with very developed, covered with a dense velvety hairs.^[3] Unlike most Melittidae, the wing has only two submarginal cells.

Biology

They are solitary bees that dig their nests in the ground. Most species are oligolectic and feed on pollen and floral oils of Lysimachia spp. They make a single generation per year. The males emerge from the ground in spring, just before the females, and await the females in the vicinity of the flowers of the host plant. After mating, the females dig a nest in the ground, ending with one or two rooms in which is collected the pollen, which is placed on the egg. The larvae, feeding on the pollen, develop rapidly, and within 10 days turn into pupae, spending the winter in this stage. Macropis nests are often parasitized by bee cleptoparasites such as Epeoloides.^[4]

Species

Macropis ciliata Patton, 1880
Macropis dimidiata Yasumatsu & Hirashima, 1956
Macropis europaea Warncke, 1973
Macropis frivaldszkyi Mocsáry, 1878
Macropis fulvipes (Fabricius, 1804)
Macropis hedini Alfken 1936
Macropis immaculata Wu 1965
Macropis kiangsuensis Wu, 1978
Macropis micheneri Wu, 1992
Macropis nuda (Provancher, 1882)
Macropis omeiensis Wu, 1965
Macropis orientalis Michez & Patiny, 2005
Macropis patellata Patton, 1880
Macropis steironematis Robertson, 1891
Macropis tibialis Yasumatsu & Hirashima, 1956
Macropis ussuriana (Popov, 1936)

References

^ Droege, Sam (September 2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees. USGS.
^ Droege, Sam (September 2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees. USGS.
^ Denis Michez and Sébastien Patiny (2005). "World revision of the oil-collecting bee genus Macropis Panzer 1809 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae) with a description of a new species from Laos" (PDF). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 41 (1): 15–28. doi:10.1080/00379271.2005.10697439.
^ Bogusch P. Biology of the Bee Cleptoparasitic Epeoloides coecutiens (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Osirini) . Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 2005, 78 (1): 1-12.

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[1] Droege, Sam (September 2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees. USGS.

[2] Droege, Sam (September 2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees. USGS.

[3] Denis Michez and Sébastien Patiny (2005). "World revision of the oil-collecting bee genus Macropis Panzer 1809 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae) with a description of a new species from Laos" (PDF). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 41 (1): 15–28. doi:10.1080/00379271.2005.10697439.

[4] Bogusch P. Biology of the Bee Cleptoparasitic Epeoloides coecutiens (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Osirini) . Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 2005, 78 (1): 1-12.

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