COSEWIC Status Reports

COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Macropis Cuckoo Bee Epeoloides pilosulus in Canada

The Macropis cuckoo bee, Epeoloides pilosulus (Cresson), is the only North American member of a genus that contains two species, the other being found in the Old World. Epeoloides is the only genus of the tribe Osirini (Apidae, Apinae) found in both the New and Old World, the remaining genera are otherwise restricted to the Neotropics. All Osirini are cleptoparasites (i.e., cuckoos), thought to have oil-collecting bees as hosts, many of them are rare. Cleptoparasitic bee females sneak into the nests of their hosts and lay eggs on the food provision collected by the host bee. The egg or larva of the host bee is killed by the cleptoparasite.

File(s)

• HTML version of "COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Macropis Cuckoo Bee Epeoloides pilosulus in Canada"
• "COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Macropis Cuckoo Bee Epeoloides pilosulus in Canada" (2011-09-09) (PDF format, 811.78 KB)

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Contact Person(s)

COSEWIC Secretariat
c/o Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0H3
Tel: 819-938-4125
Fax: 819-938-3984
Send e-mail

Related Species

• Macropis Cuckoo Bee

Links

• No links available.