Bee Phylogeny

So my task is to sort through the bees in the collection and consolidate them and organize them by genus and basically make order of the chaos. I have decided to start with a basic exploration of the bee phylogenetics to familiarize myself. I think I will go in tomorrow and get back into the collection.

LONG TOUNGUED BEES

Family Apidae
(3 subfamilies, 33 tribes, 170 genera, ~5130 species)

So this family includes the carpenter bees (subfamily Xylocopinae),

the cleptoparasitic (cuckoo) bees (subfamily Nomadinae),

the long-horned bees (tribe Eucerini),

the corbiculate bees (orchid bees [Euglossini],

bumble bees [Bombini],

stingless bees [Meliponini],

and honey bees [Apini]),

Have diverse nesting habits and includes several eusocial lineages, such as the tribe Allodapini and the eusocial corbiculate groups. Many apid groups show narrow host-plant associations including some genera within the Eucerini, Centridini, Anthophorini, Ctenoplectrini, and Emphorini



Family Megachilidae
(2 subfamilies, 7 tribes, 74 genera, ~3170 species)

The family Megachilidae includes the familiar leaf-cutter bees.













SHORT TONGUED BEES

Family Colletidae
(5 subfamilies, 5 tribes, 54 genera, ~2000 spp.)

Colletidae is widely considered to be the most primitive bee family. Colletids are a diverse group ranging from small, slender, relatively hairless bees (such as Euryglossinae) to large, robust, hairy bees (such as Diphaglossinae).

Family Andrenidae
(4 subfamilies, 6 tribes, 36 genera, ~2330 species)

The family Andrenidae includes morphologically diverse bees, most of which are narrow host-plant specialists

Family Stenotritidae
(2 genera, 21 species)

This family includes two Australian genera of large, robust, hairy bees comprising a total of 21 species.

Family Halictidae
(4 subfamilies, 2 tribes, 75 genera, ~3500 species)

This family includes approximately 3500 species of morphologically diverse bees distributed on all continents except Antarctica. Monophyly of the halictids is well supported by numerous head and mouthpart characters

Family Melittidae
(3 subfamilies, 3 tribes, 14 genera, 164 species)

This family consists of just 164 species of morphologically diverse, short-tongued bees. Members of this family are distributed in the temperate regions of the northern Hemisphere and in Africa. Melittids are absent from Australia and the Neotropics