Halictus scabiosae

Halictus scabiosae
Female, museum specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Halictidae
Genus: Halictus
Species: H. scabiosae
Binomial name
Halictus scabiosae
(Rossi, 1790)

Halictus scabiosae is a species of bee in the family Halictidae, the sweat bees.

Female guarding the entrance of the nest

Description

The abdomen is long, with yellowish stripes and a double band on tergites two and three. The legs are yellow and antennae are entirely black and curved at the apex. This species looks very similar to a closely related species, Halictus sexcinctus, and thus the two can be easily confused. These two species can be distinguished from one another in that males have longer, reddish antennae, and females lack the basal hair bands on tergites 2-4.[1]

These mining bees nest on the ground in hardened paths. Normally they dig vertical tunnels in the ground, with a circular entrance surrounded by a cone of earth.[2] In most cases a single female of Halictus scabiosae use a single nest, but sometimes they have a primitive social organization, with multiple females reproducing in a common nest.[3] They are used to nest at a particular site in many colonies.

Distribution

This species is present in most of Europe and in North Africa.[4]

References

  1. Falk, Steven. "Halictus Scabiosae (Great Banded Furrow-bee)." Flickr. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/sets/72157638771523696/>.
  2. Aramel
  3. Www2.pms
  4. Fauna Europaea

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Halictus scabiosae.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.