Family Stenotritidae

(2 genera, 21 species)

This family includes two Australian genera of large, robust, hairy bees comprising a total of 21 species. This enigmatic group was considered as part of the Colletidae prior to McGinley’s (1980) careful examination of the glossal morphology. Characters that distinguish the stenotritids from colletids include the lack of a bifid glossa and associated ultrastructural features unique to colletids, the well developed tibial (rather than femoral) scopa, and the fact that they do not coat their nest cells with a cellophane-like lining (a character shared by all colletids). No previous study has conclusively determined the phylogenetic affinities of the Stenotritidae. Stenotritids have been hypothesized to be (1) the sister group to the andrenid subfamily Oxaeinae (Alexander & Michener 1995), (2) the sister group to all other bees (Alexander & Michener 1995), (3) the sister group to the Colletidae (Alexander & Michener 1995) (4) a group arising within the colletids (Alexander & Michener 1995), (5) the sister group to the colletid subfamily Colletinae other than Colletes (based on larval data; McGinley 1981). Our preliminary molecular results indicate that this family is sister to Colletidae.

Download

Data sets:

none