Euglossa viridissima | |
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Euglossa viridissima male | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Apidae |
Genus: | Euglossa |
Species: | E. viridissima |
Binomial name | |
Euglossa viridissima Friese, 1899 | |
Euglossa viridissima is a species of orchid bee native to Central America, historically confused with a cryptic sister species, Euglossa dilemma . [1] Like its sister species, E. viridissima is one of dozens of species in the genus with bright metallic blue-green coloration, in addition to long mouthparts which extend below their bodies, though its range extends farther north than any congeners. [1]
Members of E. viridissima are described as being medium sized, having bright metallic green coloration, and long proboscis. Males of this species can always be identified by having two large patches of hair on their second sternite, and the unique shape of mid-tibial hair tufts. [1] [2] It is believed that these hair patches aid in collection and creation of perfumes, which are used for mating. [3] [4] [5] Bees belonging to E. viridissima may be uniquely identified from E. dilemma via the appearance of their mandibles. [1] Members of E. dilemma will always have mandibles with three "teeth" which are evenly spaced apart. [1] Members of E. viridissima will have mandibles with either two or three "teeth." [1] Individuals with three teeth will have uneven spacing between each tooth, differentiating them from members of E. dilemma. [1]
Amongst euglossines, E. viridissima is reported to have the northern most range within North America. [6] E. viridissima has been observed in western Puerto Rico and the Yucatan Peninsula. [7] While E. viridissima is most common in this range, E. viridissima has also been observed in parts of Florida and the Baja California Peninsula. [6] [8] [9]
Historically, E. viridissima has been observed south of the Gulf of Mexico, and towards northern South America. [6] [7] Most commonly, near the Yucatan Peninsula. [6] Previously, it was believed that these bees would be restricted to this area, as the southern United States is outside the male bee's flight range. [7] [9] Additionally, it was believed that members of E. viridissima would be reliant upon their host orchids, preventing them from leaving. [8] [9] The current consensus is that members of E. viridissima were accidentally transported through trade. [6] An inactive nest, or egg-bearing female may have stowed away on a cargo ship, which allowed E. viridissima to establish itself within southern Florida and spread further. [6]
Over time, members of E. viridissima have gradually radiated west, towards California. [6] As this species is quite bright and colorful, it leads scientists to believe that it has only recently arrived and established itself within the United States. [6] Due to its appearance, it is incredibly likely that this species would have been observed and noted much earlier in record. However, the fast establishment of this species of bee speaks towards the current abilities of American bee species. [6] Whether due to changes in climate, or the plausibility of E. viridissima's nature as an invasive species, native species are losing their ability to maintain their niche and declining in population. [7] [8] [9]
Members of E. viridissima are semi-eusocial, and represent what may be the possible first step towards eusociality within bees. [10] Females of this species may sometimes be eusocial, and other times will not express eusociality. [11] Whereas males of this species will leave the nest and never return once they reach maturity. [3] [4] The eusociality of females has many factors which may depend on seasonality, age of the female, and nest status. [11] [10]
E. viridissima create their nests within burrows, small holes, or dens within the ground. [11] The nests of E. viridissima are somewhat unique as once a nest has been used, it is abandoned, and may be reused again by the next generation. [11] [12] Typically, nests are created by a single female. [10] Once the nest has been created, the female will forage, maintain the nest, tend to the brood, and defend the nest by herself. [10] [11] However, after this first nesting cycle, there is a chance for the nest to be reused. [10] Typically, if a nest is being reused, it is by the original mother that created the nest. [11] [10] During this second cycle, the mother will enlist the aid of her daughters, who will take on the role of defending the nest and foraging. [10] In the second cycle, the mother will almost never leave the nest, and will devote nearly all of her time to tending to the brood. [10] [11] The daughters may change roles with each other depending on social conditions, ability to defend the nest, or available energy. [10]
Eusociality and aggressiveness may be affected within E. viridissima depending upon what season a nest is built in. [11] A lack of nest materials, which may be seen during dry seasons, cause females to raid other nests in search of resins. [11] Whereas rainy seasons may cause females to raid nests for food and brood, while also destroying other nests or completely taking them over. [11] Typically, nest occupation will be higher in rainy seasons than in the dry season. [11] During rainy seasons there is also an increased rate of nest creation for E. viridissima. [11] This suggests that reasons for aggression within E. viridissima changes depending on material availability. [11]
Observations of eusociality within E. viridissima has shown that social nests tend to produce more offspring overall, larger nests and broods, and more males. [12] Non-social nests tend to be smaller, have greater rates of failure, and produce slightly more females than males. [12] Additionally, when daughters are present to act as a guard, rates of theft from nests decreases significantly. [10] When there are no daughters present, intruders are always able to enter the nest and are able to steal from the nest over 75% of the time. [10] Conversely, when daughters are present, intruders are able to enter approximately 50% of the time, but are only able to steal 11% of the time. [10]
Video of E. viridissima hovering and collecting scents in Panama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-o73aUimoc
Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, and a number of other less widely known groups. Many are valuable pollinators in natural habitats and for agricultural crops.
Halictidae is the second-largest family of bees with nearly 4,500 species. They are commonly called sweat bees, as they are often attracted to perspiration. Halictid species are an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly in appearance. These bees occur all over the world and are found on every continent except Antarctica. Usually dark-colored and often metallic, halictids are found in various sizes, colors and patterns. Several species are all or partly green and a few are red, purple, or blue. A number of them have yellow markings, especially the males, which commonly have yellow faces, a pattern widespread among the various families of bees. The family is one of many with short tongues and is best distinguished by the arcuate basal vein found on the wing. Females in this family tend to be larger than the males. They are the group for which the term 'eusocial' was first coined by entomologist, Suzanne Batra.
The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior.
Lasioglossum malachurum, the sharp-collared furrow bee, is a small European halictid bee. This species is obligately eusocial, with queens and workers, though the differences between the castes are not nearly as extreme as in honey bees. Early taxonomists mistakenly assigned the worker females to a different species from the queens. They are small, shiny, mostly black bees with off-white hair bands at the bases of the abdominal segments. L. malachurum is one of the more extensively studied species in the genus Lasioglossum, also known as sweat bees. Researchers have discovered that the eusocial behavior in colonies of L. malachurum varies significantly dependent upon the region of Europe in which each colony is located.
Vanilla planifolia is a species of vanilla orchid native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Brazil. It is one of the primary sources for vanilla flavouring, due to its high vanillin content. Common names include flat-leaved vanilla, and West Indian vanilla. Often, it is simply referred to as vanilla. It was first scientifically named in 1808. With the species' population in decline and its habitats being converted to other purposes, the IUCN has assessed Vanilla planifolia as Endangered.
Euglossa is a genus of orchid bees (Euglossini). Like all their close relatives, they are native to the Neotropics; an introduced population exists in Florida. They are typically bright metallic blue, green, coppery, or golden.
Eulaema is a genus of large-bodied euglossine bees that occur primarily in the Neotropics. They are robust brown or black bees, hairy or velvety, and often striped with yellow or orange, typically resembling bumblebees. They lack metallic coloration as occurs in the related genus Eufriesea.
Eusociality is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society, sometimes called castes. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform behaviors characteristic of individuals in another caste. Eusocial colonies can be viewed as superorganisms.
Tetragonula carbonaria is a stingless bee, endemic to the north-east coast of Australia. Its common name is sugarbag bee. They are also occasionally referred to as bush bees. The bee is known to pollinate orchid species, such as Dendrobium lichenastrum, D. toressae, and D. speciosum. It has been identified as an insect that collects pollen from the cycad Cycas media. They are also known for their small body size, reduced wing venation, and highly developed social structure comparable to honey bees.
Within the insect order Hymenoptera, the Halictinae are the largest, most diverse, and most recently diverged of the four halictid subfamilies. They comprise over 2400 bee species belonging to the five taxonomic tribes Augochlorini, Thrinchostomini, Caenohalictini, Sphecodini, and Halictini, which some entomologists alternatively organize into the two tribes Augochlorini and Halictini.
Euglossa hyacinthina, is a species of the orchid bee tribe Euglossini in the family Apidae. With a tongue that can get up to as long as 4 cm, this orchid bee species is found in Central America. Living in a neotropical climate, E.hyacinthina has adapted to hot and humid weather. The bee has darkly shaded, translucent wings and a metallic, glossy blue skeleton.
Euglossa dilemma, the green orchid bee or dilemma orchid bee, is a species of solitary euglossine bee native to a broad area of Central America, and recently introduced to Florida in the United States. It was first detected in Broward County, Florida in 2003, and initially identified as Euglossa viridissima, but further study revealed that E. viridissima as previously defined consisted of two cryptic species, and the one present in Florida was new to science.
Eulaema meriana is a large-bodied bee species in the tribe Euglossini, otherwise known as the orchid bees. The species is a solitary bee and is native to tropical Central and South America. The male collects fragrances from orchid flowers, which it stores in hollows in its hind legs. Orchids can be deceptive by mimicking the form of a female and her sex pheromone, thus luring male bees or wasps. Pollination will take place as the males attempt to mate with the labellum, or the tip petal of the flower. Male E. meriana are territorial and have a particular perch on a tree trunk where it displays to attract a female. After mating, the female builds a nest with urn-shaped cells made with mud, feces, and plant resin, and provisions these with nectar and pollen before laying an egg in each. These bees also have complex foraging and wing buzzing behaviors and are part of a mimicry complex.
Euglossa cordata is a primitively eusocial orchid bee of the American tropics. The species is known for its green body color and ability to fly distances of over 50 km. Males mostly disperse and leave their home nests, while females have been observed to possess philopatric behavior. Because of this, sightings are rare and little is known about the species. However, it has been observed that adults who pollinate certain species of orchids will become intoxicated during the pollination.
Eufriesea surinamensis belongs to the tribe of euglossine bees and as such is a species of orchid bee. This should not be mistaken with the species group surinamensis, which includes Ef. surinamensis among other Eufriesea species.
Euglossa imperialis is a bee species in the family Apidae. It is considered to be one of the most important pollinators to many Neotropical orchid species in mainland tropical America. It is also one of the most common non-parasitic euglossine species in lowland Panama. E. imperialis, unlike many other bee species, is not a social bee in the sense that there is no apparent morphological or physiological division within the species to distinguish individual bees to be part of a worker or reproductive caste.
Ceratina calcarata, the spurred ceratina, is a species of small carpenter bee in the family Apidae. It is found in eastern North America. This species ranges from Georgia, USA north to Ontario, Canada and east to Nova Scotia, Canada. This bee is a common generalist, native pollinator, it pollinates plants like watermelon and cucumber very effectively. C. calcarata adds to the productivity of a wide range of ecological and agricultural systems due to its wide range and abundance. This small bee is becoming a model organism in the scientific research of social evolution. C. calcarata is the first subsocial bee species to have its genome published, allowing researchers to investigate the evolutionary origins of social behaviour.
Megalopta is a widespread neotropical genus of bees in the tribe Augochlorini in family Halictidae, known as the sweat bees. They are the largest of the five nocturnal genera in Augochlorini. Most have pale integumentary pigmentation, and all have large ocelli, most likely a feature of their nocturnal behavior. They live in tropical Central America and the entirety of South America. The subgenus Noctoraptor is cleptoparasitic. They are not known from the fossil record.
Euglossa mixta is a species of orchid bee native to Central America and South America, it is a member of the genus Euglossa a group of brilliant green and blue bees specialized in pollinating certain species of orchids.
Meloetyphlus fuscatus, the blind blister beetle, is a species of blister beetle in the family Meloidae found in Central and South America. They are kleptoparasites of orchid bees and are entirely blind as adults. Unique among meloids, females do not lay their eggs near flowers, but rather within their hosts' nests.