Pöllein, Daniela;Kuhlmann, Michael
Sphecodopsis
Sign in to saveSphecodopsis is a genus of cleptoparasitic cuckoo bees in the family Apidae. Endemic to southern Africa, the wasp-like bees of this genus are generally small, varying from in length, and mostly black, with orange-ish or reddish colouring of the metasoma in some of the species. The bee genus Scrapter is recognised as a host for the cleptoparasitic life cycle of some Sphecodopsis, but further data regarding preferred hosts is not available for most of the species.
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6 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Distribution and habitat
- Morphology
- Behaviour and life cycle
- Species
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Sphecodopsis is a genus of cleptoparasitic cuckoo bees in the family Apidae. Endemic to southern Africa, the wasp-like bees of this genus are generally small, varying from in length, and mostly black, with orange-ish or reddish colouring of the metasoma in some of the species. The bee genus Scrapter is recognised as a host for the cleptoparasitic life cycle of some Sphecodopsis, but further data regarding preferred hosts is not available for most of the species.
==Taxonomy== German entomologist Hans Bischoff first described the genus in 1923 in the work "Kenntnis afrikanischer Schmarotzerbienen", published in the Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift. The genus name is Greek for "wasp-like", with "spheco-" meaning wasp.