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Melittidae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dasypodainae |
The family Melittidae is a small bee family, with some 110 species in 14 genera, mostly restricted to Africa and the northern temperate zone. Historically, they have been considered either the ancestors to the "long-tongued bees" (Apidae and Megachilidae), or their sister taxon. It has also been suggested that the family is paraphyletic, and each of the three recognized subfamilies is deserving of family status.
They are typically small to moderate-sized bees, which often have shaggy scopae, and are commonly oligolectic, several species further specializing on floral oils as larval food rather than pollen, including Rediviva emdeorum, a highly unusual species in which the forelegs are longer than the entire body, and used to sponge up the floral oil at the end of elongated corolla spurs of the host plant, Diascia.
The subfamily Meganomiinae is rather different in appearance from the other subfamilies, being large bees, mostly black with strong yellow markings, resembling anthidiine megachilids.
- C. D. Michener (2000) The Bees of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press.
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