Apoidea
Apis mellifera, the Western Honeybee
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Apoidea
Series
Spheciformes Anthophila Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Binomial name Apis mellifera The species called Western honeybees (Apis mellifera) are honeybees comprised of several subspecies or races. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ... Orders Subclass Apterygota Archaeognatha (bristletails) Thysanura (silverfish) Subclass Pterygota Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass Neoptera Superorder Exopterygota Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Dermaptera (earwigs) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Psocoptera... Suborders Apocrita Symphyta Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. ... Superfamilies Apoidea Ceraphronoidea Chalcidoidea Chrysidoidea Cynipoidea Evanioidea Ichneumonoidea Megalyroidea Proctotrupoidea Sphecoidea Stephanoidea Triganalyoidea Vespoidea Many families, see article Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. ... Families Ampulicidae Crabronidae Heterogynaidae Sphecidae The Spheciformes is a paraphyletic assemblage of families which collectively comprise the sphecoid wasps; these are all the members of the superfamily Apoidea which are not bees, and in older classifications were called the Sphecoidea. The group is paraphyletic because the bees are believed to... For other uses, see Western honey bee and Bee (disambiguation). ...

The superfamily Apoidea is a major group within the Hymenoptera, which includes two traditionally-recognized lineages, the "sphecoid" wasps, and the bees, who appear to be their descendants. Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Suborders Apocrita Symphyta Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. ... Subfamilies Ammophilinae Sceliphrinae Sphecinae Sphecidae blocking its burrow with a stone Sphecidae (Latreille, 1802) is a cosmopolitan family of wasps that include digger wasps, mud daubers and other familiar types that all fall under the category of thread-waisted wasps. ... For other uses, see Wasp (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Western honey bee and Bee (disambiguation). ...

Nomenclature

Bees appear in recent classifications to be a specialized lineage of crabronid wasps that switched to the use of pollen and nectar as larval food, rather than insect prey; this presumably makes Crabronidae a paraphyletic group. Accordingly, bees and sphecoids are now all grouped together in a single superfamily, and the older available name is "Apoidea" rather than "Sphecoidea" (which, like Spheciformes, has been used in the past, but also defined a paraphyletic group and has been abandoned). Genera Many, see text Crabronidae (Latreille, 1802) is a family of wasps. ... SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... In Greek mythology, nectar and ambrosia are the food of the gods. ... A larval insect A larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of animal with indirect development, undergoing metamorphosis (for example, insects or amphibians). ... Orders Subclass Apterygota Archaeognatha (bristletails) Thysanura (silverfish) Subclass Pterygota Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic) Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Infraclass Neoptera Superorder Exopterygota Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Embioptera (webspinners) Zoraptera (angel insects) Dermaptera (earwigs) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc) Phasmatodea (stick insects) Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Psocoptera... Paraphyletic - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Families Ampulicidae Crabronidae Heterogynaidae Sphecidae The Spheciformes is a paraphyletic assemblage of families which collectively comprise the sphecoid wasps; these are all the members of the superfamily Apoidea which are not bees, and in older classifications were called the Sphecoidea. The group is paraphyletic because the bees are believed to... Families Ampulicidae Crabronidae Heterogynaidae Sphecidae The Spheciformes is a paraphyletic assemblage of families which collectively comprise the sphecoid wasps; these are all the members of the superfamily Apoidea which are not bees, and in older classifications were called the Sphecoidea. The group is paraphyletic because the bees are believed to... Paraphyletic - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

As the bees themselves (not including their wasp ancestors) are still considered a monophyletic group, it is still convenient to use a grouping between superfamily and family to unify all bees. A few recent classifications have addressed this problem by lumping all bee families together into a single large family Apidae^{[citation needed]}, though this has not met with widespread acceptance. The alternative classification in more common use is to unite all bees under the name Anthophila (Engel, 2005), which is equivalent to the obsolete name Apiformes (which meant bee-like forms in Latin). In phylogenetics, a group is monophyletic (Greek: of one stem) if all organisms in that group are known to have developed from a common ancestral form, and all descendants of that form are included in the group. ... Subfamilies Apinae - Honeybees Bombinae - Bumblebees Euglossinae - Orchid bees Meliponinae - Stingless bees Nomadinae Xylocopinae - Carpenter bees The Apidae are a large family of bees, comprising the common honeybees, stingless bees (which are also cultured for honey), carpenter bees, and bumblebees. ... For other uses, see Western honey bee and Bee (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Western honey bee and Bee (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ...

External links

• All Living Things Images, identification guides, and maps of Apoidea.
• Solitary BeesPopular introduction to the Hymenoptera Apoidea.
• Fiori e Api d'Albore and IntoppaFlower visiting bees in Europe pdf. In Italian but excellent table with Latin names.

References

• Engel, M.S. (2005). Family-group names for bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). American Museum Novitates 3476: 1-33.
• Grimaldi, D. and Engel, M.S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82149-5. 
• Michener, C.D. (2000). The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press.