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 (Krombein et al. 1979). This family is distributed on all continents except Australia and Antarctica but is most diverse in arid regions of North and South America (Michener 1979). Females carry pollen externally on trochanteral, femoral, and tibial scopae and one subfamily (Andreninae) has genera with well developed propodeal scopae. There are no cleptoparasites known and all species are solitary or communal. Andrenidae is clearly monophyletic based on the presence of two subantennal sutures (Alexander & Michener 1995, Michener 2000).
John Ascher has recently analyzed the phylogenetic relationships among the three andrenid subfamilies and among the tribes within each subfamily based on a combination of morphological data and DNA sequence data (Elongation factor-1alpha). His results confirm andrenid monophyly and suggest that the Andreninae is sister to a monophyletic Oxaeinae+Panurginae. His results unambiguously establish the placement of a recently described tribe, Nolanomelissini (Rozen 2003, Ascher 2004).
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Data sets: |
J. Ascher data set on andrenid bees (in prep) |
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