Tapinotaspidini

Tapinotaspidini
Caenonomada unicalcarata (female)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Tapinotaspidini
Roig-Alsina & Michener, 1993

The 'Tapinotaspidini' are a tribe of apid bees. They belong to the order Hymenoptera and the family Apidae.[1] The Tapinotaspidini tribe consists of 180 different species.[2] Many species of Apidae are recognised as oil-collecting bees and Tapinotaspidini possess this oil-collecting behaviour.[1] It is maintained that mutualism exists between oil secreting flowers and oil collecting Tapinotaspidini bees.[3] Morphological and molecular phylogenies have found that the trait of oil-collecting is polyphyletic.[1] Tapinotaspidini are solitary bees which collect oil sources from flowers belonging to the families of Malpighiaceae, Solanaceae, Orchidaceae, Calceolariaceae, Iridaceae, Plantaginaceae, Melastomataceae and Krameriaceae.[1] Tapinotaspidini species differ in terms of being generalist and specialist oil-collectors.[2] Selected species exclusively obtain floral oil from one family of flowering plants, whilst many Tapinotaspidini species employ a range of plant families to fulfil their oil-collecting behaviour.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d Martins, Aline Cristina; Alves-dos-Santos, Isabel (October–December 2013). "Floral-oil-producing Plantaginaceae species: geographical distribution, pollinator rewards and interactions with oil-collecting bees". Biota Neotropica. 13: 77–89. doi:10.1590/S1676-06032013000400008. ISSN 1676-0611.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).