Macropis

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Apoidea

Familia: Melittidae
Genus: Macropis
Species: M. ciliata – M. dimidiata – M. europaea – M. frivaldszkyi – M. fulvipes – M. hedini – M. immaculata – M. kiangsuensis – M. micheneri – M. nuda – M. omeiensis – M. orientalis – M. patellata – M. steironematis – M. tibialis – M. ussuriana
Name

Macropis

Primary references
Links

BHL bibliography
Catalogue of Life: 2021 Annual Checklist
Macropis – Taxon details on Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2019. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Macropis.
ION
Nomenclator Zoologicus

Macropis is a genus of bees in the family Melittidae.

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.[1] 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.[2]
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

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