Specimen image via iDigBio · CC0
Melissodes
Sign in to saveMelissodes is the second largest genus of long-horned bees - named for the characteristically long antennae of males. Melissodes currently has 129 described species, all native to the Americas, from Canada in the North to Argentina in the South (though less common in the tropics).
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 25,649
- With media
- 1,067
- Family
- Apidae
- Collections
- ECOSUR, IFIT-CP, MZFC-FC-UNAM
- Recorded in
- Mexico, Guatemala
Wikidata facts
Show 4 more facts
- taxon name
- Melissodes
- taxon rank
- genus
- topic's main category
- Category:Melissodes
- Commons category
- Melissodes
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy and phylogeny
- Description
- Natural history
- Life cycle and nesting behavior
- Foraging and pollen specialization
- Habitat and distribution
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Melissodes is the second largest genus of long-horned bees - named for the characteristically long antennae of males. Melissodes currently has 129 described species, all native to the Americas, from Canada in the North to Argentina in the South (though less common in the tropics).
The females of most species are either polylectic (collect pollen from a variety of plant species) or oligolectic (collect pollen from a narrow set of closely related plant species) on Asteraceae. Melissodes are important crop pollinators, particularly on sunflower, but they have also been observed on canola, cantaloupe, watermelon, cotton, coffee, and alfalfa.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Melissodes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.