Halictinae

Thrinchostoma sp., copyright Centre for Biodiversity Genomics.

Belongs within: Halictidae.
Contains: Augochlorini, Homalictus, Lasioglossum, Halictus, Sphecodes.

The Halictinae are a group of short-tongued bees commonly known as 'sweat bees', due to their habit of lapping perspiration from animals in order to collect salts. They are distinguished from other bees by the combination of a strong episternal groove continuing well below the level of the scrobe, and a strongly curved basal vein in the fore wing. Halictines may provide some of the earliest evidence for bees in the fossil record: the Late Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous) fossil nest Uruguay has been compared to nests of the halictine tribe Augochlorini (Engel 2001). The majority of halictines nest in burrows in the ground except for some that nest in rotting wood.

Characters (from Engel 2001): Labrum of female with distal process. Clypeus longer than labrum. Pre-episternal groove strongly impressed below level of scrobe. Basal vein strongly arcuate; first submarginal cell longer than third submarginal cell. Scopa developed on metacoxa, metatrochanter, metafemur, and to varying degrees on metatibia in nonparasitic females; metabasitarusus with distal process and penicillus. Prepygidial fimbria of female distinctly divided by pseudopygidial area.

Halictinae [Augochloridae]
    |  i. s.: Echthralictus Perkins & Cheesman 1928 M65
    |           |--*E. extraordinarius (Kohl 1908) [=Halictus extraordinarius] M65
    |           |--E. latro Perkins & Cheesman 1928 M65
    |           `--E. stevensoni (Cockerell 1924) [=Halictus stevensoni] M65
    |         Seladonia hotoni H18
    |--+--Caenohalictini [Caenohalictina] E01
    |  |    |--Eickwortapis Michener & Poinar 1996 E01
    |  |    |    `--*E. dominicana Michener & Poinar 1996 E01
    |  |    |--Caenohalictus E00
    |  |    |    |--C. eberhardorum E00
    |  |    |    `--C. oblitus Moure & Hurd 1987 (see below for synonymy) E00
    |  |    `--Habralictus E00
    |  |         |--H. bimaculatus E00
    |  |         `--H. canalictulatus E00
    |  |--Agapostemon GE05 [Agapostemonina, Agapostemonini E01]
    |  |    |--A. nasutus WP99
    |  |    |--A. poeyi E00
    |  |    |--A. sericeus E00
    |  |    |--A. texanus C01
    |  |    |--A. tyleri BD17
    |  |    |--A. viequesensis E00
    |  |    `--A. virescens GE05
    |  `--Augochlorini E01
    `--Halictini [Sphecodidae, Thrinchostomini] E01
         |  i. s.: Patellapis (Pachyhalictus Cockerell 1928) H18, M65
         |           |--‘*Pachyhalictus’ merescens (Cockerell 1919) M65 (see below for synonymy)
         |           |--P. (P.) albipilatus H18
         |           |--‘Pachyhalictus’ buruanus (Blüthgen 1926) [=Halictus buruanus, Lasioglossum buruanum] M65
         |           |--‘Pachyhalictus’ kalutarae [=Lasioglossum kalutarae] M65
         |           |--‘Pachyhalictus’ reticulosus [=Lasioglossum reticulosum] M65
         |           |--‘Pachyhalictus’ sigiriellus [=Lasioglossum sigiriellum] M65
         |           |--P. (P.) stirlingi (Cockerell 1910) H18, M65 (see below for synonymy)
         |           |--‘Pachyhalictus’ trizonulus (Friese 1909) [=Halictus trizonulus, Lasioglossum trizonulum] M65
         |           `--‘Pachyhalictus’ vinctus [=Lasioglossum vinctum] M65
         |         Homalictus N91
         |         Electrolictus Engel 2001 E01
         |           `--*E. antiquus Engel 2001 E01
         |         Cyrtapis Cockerell 1908 E01
         |           `--*C. anomalus Cockerell 1908 E01
         |         Prohalictus Armbruster 1938 E01
         |           `--*P. schemppi Armbruster 1938 E01
         |         Ceylonicola Friese 1918 B26
         |           `--C. atra Friese 1918 B26
         |         Dialictus E00
         |           |--D. breedi E00
         |           |--D. busckiellus E00
         |           |--D. mestrei E00
         |           |--D. ornduffi M76
         |           |--D. parvus E00
         |           `--D. proangularis E00
         |         Habralictellus auratus E00
         |         Mexalictus E00
         |           |--M. arizonensis E00
         |           |--M. mexicanus E00
         |           `--M. micheneri E00
         |         Ruizanthedella E00
         |           |--R. mutabilis E00
         |           `--R. nigrocaerulea E00
         |         Zonalictus E00
         |           |--Z. rufobasalis E00
         |           `--Z. viridifilosus E00
         |--+--Lasioglossum PK17
         |  `--Halictus PK17
         `--+--Sphecodes PK17
            `--Thrinchostoma Saussure 1890 BD17, E01 [incl. Diagozonus B26, Rostratilapis Friese 1914 B26]
                 |--T. assamense Sladen 1915 B26
                 |--T. bicometes B26
                 |--T. bryanti Meade-Waldo 1914 B26
                 |--T. flaviscapus Blüthgen 1926 B26
                 |--T. macrognathum (Friese 1914) (see below for synonymy) B26
                 |--‘Halictus’ patricius B26
                 |--T. perineti BD17
                 |--T. sladeni (Friese 1914) [=Halictus (Rostratilapis) sladeni] B26
                 `--T. tonkinense Blüthgen 1926 B26

Caenohalictus oblitus Moure & Hurd 1987 [incl. Halictus nigromarginatus Spinola 1851 non Spinola 1841] E00

‘*Pachyhalictus’ merescens (Cockerell 1919) M65 [=Halictus thoracicus merescens M65, B26, Lasioglossum merescens M65]

Patellapis (Pachyhalictus) stirlingi (Cockerell 1910) H18, M65 [=Halictus stirlingi M65, Lasioglossum stirlingi M65]

Thrinchostoma macrognathum (Friese 1914) [=Halictus (Rostratilapis) macrognathus; incl. T. macrognathum var. brunnea Blüthgen 1926] B26

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B26] Blüthgen, P. 1926. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der indo-malayischen Halictus- und Thrinchostoma-Arten. (Hym. Apidae. Halictini.). Zoologische Jahrbücher: Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 51: 375–698.

[BD17] Branstetter, M. G., B. N. Danforth, J. P. Pitts, B. C. Faircloth, P. S. Ward, M. L. Buffington, M. W. Gates, R. R. Kula & S. G. Brady. 2017. Phylogenomic insights into the evolution of stinging wasps and the origins of ants and bees. Current Biology 27: 1019–1025.

[C01] Cockerell, T. D. A. 1901. Contributions from the New Mexico Biological Station.—X. Observations on bees collected at Las Vegas, New Mexico, and in the adjacent mountains. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 125–131.

[E00] Engel, M. S. 2000. Classification of the bee tribe Augochlorini (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 250: 1–89.

[E01] Engel, M. S. 2001. A monograph of the Baltic amber bees and evolution of the Apoidea (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 259: 1–192.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H18] Houston, T. 2018. A Guide to Native Bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing.

[M65] Michener, C. D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1–362.

[M76] Moldenke, A. R. 1976. California pollination ecology and vegetation types. Phytologia 34 (4): 305–361.

[N91] Naumann, I. D. 1991. Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants, sawflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 916–1000. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[PK17] Peters, R. S., L. Krogmann, C. Mayer, A. Donath, S. Gunkel, K. Meusemann, A. Kozlov, L. Podsiadlowski, M. Petersen, R. Lanfear, P. A. Diez, J. Heraty, K. M. Kjer, S. Klopfstein, R. Meier, C. Polidori, T. Schmitt, S. Liu, X. Zhou, T. Wappler, J. Rust, B. Misof & O. Niehuis. 2017. Evolutionary history of the Hymenoptera. Current Biology 27 (7): 1013–1018.

[WP99] Walter, D. E., & H. C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

Last updated: 9 March 2021.