Eufriesea

Eufriesea
Eufriesea chrysopyga
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Apidae
Subfamily:	Apinae
Tribe:	Euglossini
Genus:	Eufriesea Cockerell, 1908
Species
see text
Diversity
> 60 species
Synonyms
Plusia Euplusia Eumorpha Eufriesia

Eufriesea is a genus of euglossine bees. Like all orchid bees, they are restricted to the Neotropics.

All species range from entirely to at least partially metallic (the face and/or tegulae), though much of the body in some species may be brown/black in color and hairy.

Distribution

Eufriesea is the most widely distributed genus of euglossines. Specimens have been found from Mexico to central Argentina.^[1]

E. purpurata

At least one of its species, Eufriesea purpurata from Brazil, has been shown to selectively collect large quantities of the insecticide DDT without any apparent adverse effects.^[2] Individual bees were observed to collect as much as 2 mg, which is in the percent range of body weight. The males of orchid bees are known to collect aromatic fragrances from certain kinds of orchids, and it is thought that they use these in territorial display and courtship, probably as precursors of their own pheromones. Some orchid bees have also been found to collect fragrances from rotten wood.

Name

The genus is named after entomologist Heinrich Friese.

Species

The genus Eufriesea contains the following species:^[3]

E. aeniventris (Mocsáry, 1896) E. anisochlora (Kimsey, 1977) E. aridicola (Moure, Neves, and Viana, 2001) E. atlantica Nemésio, 2008 E. auriceps (Friese, 1899) E. auripes (Gribodo, 1882) E. bare González & Gaiani, 1989 E. boharti (Kimsey, 1977) E. brasilianorum (Friese, 1899) E. caerulescens (Lepeletier, 1841) E. chaconi González & Gaiani, 1989 E. chalybaea (Friese, 1923) E. chrysopyga (Mocsáry, 1898) E. combinata (Mocsáry, 1897) E. concava (Friese, 1899) E. convexa (Friese, 1899) E. corusca (Kimsey, 1977) E. distinguenda (Gribodo, 1882) E. dressleri (Kimsey, 1977) E. duckei (Friese, 1923) E. eburneocincta (Kimsey, 1977) E. elegans (Lepeletier, 1841) E. excellens (Friese, 1925) E. faceta (Moure, 1999) E. fallax (Smith, 1854) E. flaviventris (Friese, 1899) E. formosa (Mocsáry, 1908) E. fragrocara (Kimsey, 1977) E. kimimari González & Gaiani, 1989 E. laniventris (Ducke, 1902) E. limbata (Mocsáry, 1897) E. lucida (Kimsey, 1977)

E. lucifera Kimsey, 1977 E. macroglossa (Moure, 1965) E. magrettii (Friese, 1899) E. mariana (Mocsáry, 1896) E. micheneri (Ayala & Engel, 2008) E. mexicana (Mocsáry, 1897) E. mussitans (Fabricius, 1787) E. nigrescens (Friese, 1925) E. nigrohirta (Friese, 1899) E. nordestina (Moure, 1999) E. opulenta (Mocsáry, 1908) E. ornata (Mocsáry, 1896) E. pallida (Kimsey, 1977) E. pretiosa (Friese, 1903) E. pulchra (Smith, 1854) E. purpurata (Mocsáry, 1896) E. rufocauda (Kimsey, 1977) E. rugosa (Friese, 1899) E. schmidtiana (Friese, 1925) E. simillima (Moure & Michener, 1965) E. smaragdina (Perty, 1833) E. superba (Hoffmannsegg, 1817) E. surinamensis (Linnaeus, 1758) E. theresiae (Mocsáry, 1908) E. tucumana (Schrottky, 1902) E. velutina (Moure, 1999) E. venezolana (Schrottky, 1913) E. venusta (Moure, 1965) E. vidua (Moure, 1976) E. violacea (Blanchard, 1840) E. violascens (Mocsáry, 1898) E. zhangi Nemésio, Júnior and Santos, 2013

See also

• Helaeomyia petrolei, a fly whose maggots develop in crude petroleum

References

1. Anjos-Silva, Evandson J. dos; Camillo, Evandro; Garófalo, Carlos A. (December 2006). "Occurrence of Aglae caerulea Lepeletier & Serville (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini) in the Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso State, Brazil". Neotropical Entomology. 35 (6): 868–870. doi:10.1590/S1519-566X2006000600024.
2. Roberts, Donald R.; Alecrim, Wilson D.; Heller, Jack M.; Ehrhardt, Susan R.; Lima, Jose B. (6 May 1982). "Male Eufriesia purpurata, a DDT-collecting euglossine bee in Brazil". Nature. 297 (5861): 62–63. doi:10.1038/297062a0.
3. "Eufriesea". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 9 June 2008.

Further reading

• Whitten, W. Mark; Young, Allen M. & Stern, David L. (1993): Nonfloral sources of chemicals that attract male euglossine bees (Apidae: Euglossini). Journal of Chemical Ecology 19(12): 1573-1561. doi:10.1007/BF00980599
• Cameron, Sydney A. (2004): Phylogeny and Biology of Neotropical Orchid Bees (Euglossini). Annual Review of Entomology 49: 377-404. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.49.072103.115855
• Roubik, D. W. (1989): Ecology and natural history of tropical bees. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Vetter, Walter & Roberts, Donald (2007): Revisiting the organohalogens associated with 1979-samples of Brazilian bees (Eufriesea purpurata). Science of The Total Environment 377: 371-377. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.009

External links

• David Roubik (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute): Diagnostic photographs of several Eufriesea species:

E. mussitans · E. ornata · E. pulchra · E. purpurata · E. surinamensis