Hylaeus sanguinipictus
male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Colletidae
Genus: Hylaeus
Species:
H. sanguinipictus
Binomial name
Hylaeus sanguinipictus
(Cockerell, 1914)

Hylaeus sanguinipictus is a bee species endemic to Western Australia. It was described in 1914 from material collected in Yallingup by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell as Prosopis sanguinipicta.[1]

Like its relative the banksia bee (Hylaeus alcyoneus), H. sanguinipictus's expression of sexual dimorphism is unusual — the males of the species are larger than the females; in most other types of bee, females are larger than males. The males perch and defend Banksia inflorescences while waiting to mate with females, and combat other males.[2]

Western Australian banksias that the bee has been recorded visiting include B. menziesii and B. prionotes.[2]

References

  1. Cockerell, T.D.A. (1914). "Descriptions and records of bees. LXII". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 8 (14): 49–57 [54].
  2. 1 2 Alcock, John; Heuston, Terry F. (1996). "Mating Systems and Male Size in Australian Hylaeine Bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae)". Ethology. 102 (4): 591–610. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1996.tb01151.x.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.