Ceratina
| Ceratina Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Ceratina bifida | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Tribe: | Ceratinini |
| Genus: | Ceratina Latreille, 1802 |
| Species | |
|
>200 species | |
The cosmopolitan bee genus Ceratina, often referred to as small carpenter bees,[1] is the sole lineage of the tribe Ceratinini, and is not closely related to the more familiar carpenter bees. The genus presently contains over 300 species in 23 subgenera.[2] They make nests in dead wood, stems, or pith. Although they were considered as mostly solitary in the past, there is growing evidence that many species are facultatively eusocial.[3]
Ceratina are commonly dark, shining, even metallic bees, with fairly sparse body hairs and a weak scopa on the hind tibia. Most species have some yellow markings, most often restricted to the face, but often elsewhere on the body. They are very commonly mistaken for "sweat bees" (family Halictidae), due to their small size, metallic coloration, and some similarity in wing venation; they can be easily separated from halictids by the mouthparts (with a long glossa) and the hindwings (with a tiny jugal lobe).[4]
Behaviour
There can be multiple females in a single nest, where daughters or sisters may form very small, weakly eusocial colonies (where one bee forages and the other remains in the nest and lays eggs). In Ceratina nigrolabiata, a Mediterranean species, males may guard the opening to the nest of a female they hope to mate with, and are often not the father of the brood within the nest; this is the first bee species in which male nest-guarding has been classified as a form of biparental care,[5] but males guarding nests and mating with females has been documented in other species (e.g., Macrotera portalis[6]).
A few species of Ceratina are exceptional among bees in that they are parthenogenetic, reproducing without males.[7] Parthenogenetic reproduction was genetically confirmed in Ceratina dallatorreana and it is presumed also in Ceratina parvula and Ceratina dentipes.[8]
Species
See: List of Ceratina species
References
- ^ Small Carpenter Bee – Ceratina sp. Red Planet Inc.
- ^ DiscoverLife Ceratina
- ^ Mikát, M., Fraňková, T., Benda, D., Straka, J., 2022. Evidence of sociality in European small carpenter bees (Ceratina). Apidologie 53, 18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-022-00931-8.
- ^ Small carpenter bees, Ceratina spp. Featured Creatures. University of Florida IFAS. Publication EENY-101, Revised June, 2014.
- ^ Mikát, Michael; Janošík, Lukáš; Černá, Kateřina; Matoušková, Eva; Hadrava, Jiří; Bureš, Vít; Straka, Jakub (2019). "Polyandrous bee provides extended offspring care biparentally as an alternative to monandry based eusociality". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (13): 6238–6243. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.6238M. doi:10.1073/pnas.1810092116. PMC 6442561. PMID 30858313.
- ^ Bryan Danforth (1991). "The morphology and behavior of dimorphic males in Macrotera portalis (Hymenoptera : Andrenidae)". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 29 (4): 235–pp 247. doi:10.1007/bf00163980. S2CID 37651908.
- ^ Daly, Howell V. (1966-11-01). "Biological Studies on Ceratina dallatorreana, an Alien Bee in California Which Reproduces by Parthenogenesis (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 59 (6): 1138–1154. doi:10.1093/aesa/59.6.1138. ISSN 0013-8746.
- ^ Mikát M, Straka J (2023) Genetic evidence for parthenogenesis in the small carpenter bee Ceratina dallatoreana (Apidae, Ceratinini) in its native distribution range. J Hymenopt Res 95:199–213. https:// doi.org/10.3897/jhr.95.87165
External links
- Guide to the Ceratina of Eastern North America. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.