Cuckoo bees of the genus Epeolus Latreille, 1802

Epeolus flavociliatus is a rare species from North Africa, also found in the Canary Islands.

There are around 20 Epeolus species known from Europe and neighbouring countries. Most of these species are very rare and restricted in their distribution to a very small area of occupancy or to only in warm regions in southern Europe. Only Epeolus variegatus is widespread throughout most of Europe, but it is still not very common. This genus is the only genus of cuckoo bees of the subfamily Nomadinae, which was not taxonomically studied in detail by K. Warncke or other specialists in the past. A very recent study by Bogusch and Hadrava (in press) provides a new view of the taxonomy of European Epeolus species, including the determination key and distribution maps for all species of Europe. Another study (Bogusch, in prep.) relates to bees of this genus appearing in Turkey; it presents descriptions of three new species and new occurrence records of bees of this genus in Turkey. Similar studies focusing on other regions, especially North Africa, Russia, and Mongolia, are planned for the next years. The phylogeny of bees of the genus Epeolus and their hosts is now being studied by P. Bogusch and Michael Kuhlmann, in cooperation with Laurence Packer's research group from Toronto, Canada.

Duration of the research period: Since 2012. The first two manuscripts have been recently peer-reviewed, and they are supposed to be published in 2018. P. Bogusch is also involved in other taxonomic studies on other groups of hymenopterans, see the projects: Bethylidae of Central Europe and Gasteruptiidae of Central Europe.

Published papers:

Bogusch P.: Descriptions of three new species of cuckoo bees of the genus Epeolus Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae) and comprehensive records of occurrence of bees of this genus in Turkey. Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae, in press. Bogusch P., Hadrava J. 2018: European bees of the genera Epeolus Latreille, 1802 and Triepeolus Robertson, 1901 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae: Epeolini): taxonomy, identification key, distribution, and ecology. Zootaxa 4437(1):1-41.
Bogusch P. 2018: Three new species and new records of cuckoo bees of the genus Epeolus in Turkey (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58(1):127-135.
Onuferko T.M., Bogusch P., Ferrari R., Packer L. 2019: Phylogeny and biogeography of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Epeolus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and cophylogenetic analysis with its host bee genus Colletes (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 141:106603.
Bogusch P. 2019: Epeolus ladakhensis sp. nov. – a new species of cuckoo bee from India. Oriental insects 54: 265-272.