2. The Bee Family

Ancestral bees appeared about 125 million years ago and so far, world-wide, about 20,000 species have been named, although this could climb to 30,000 once they have all been identified. This gives bees more species than birds and mammals combined! With so many bee species out there, bees have been arranged into families and then further divided into genus, sub-genus, and species.

Before I proceed, please note that I am a naturalist, a fourth-generation beekeeper (although I don’t keep bees anymore) and one of those “beeple” who just love bees. I recommend you do your own research to fact check and learn more about this subject. With that said, let’s continue.

Bees belong to the superfamily Apoidea which is a major group within the Hymenoptera (which includes wasps and bees). There are seven biological bee families which are divided into:

• the long-tongued bees: Adidae and Megachilidae

• the short-tongued bees: Mellitidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, Stenotritidae and Colletidae.

New Zealand has bees from two out of the seven families: the Leioproctus and Hylaeus genus under the Colletidae family and the Lasioglossum is under the Halictidae family. We have a total of 28 native bee species, 27 of which are endemic. (One is indigenous - meaning it is somehow found its own way here and in this case, from Australia).

So, to understand how bees are categorised, for example, (a) The species Leioproctus huakiwi belongs to the family Colletidae, the genus is Leioproctus, the subgenus is Leioproctus, and the species is L. huakiwi. (b) The species Leioproctus fulvescens belongs to the family Colletidae, the genus is Leioproctus, the subgenus is Nesocolletes, and the species is L. fulvescens.

• LEIOPROCTUS: The eighteen native species of Leioproctus is the largest and most common genus of native bees in New Zealand and are from the family Colletidae. These are also known as the plaster bee because the female bee line their underground nests with a cellophane-like secretion produced by a gland in their abdomen to protect developing larvae from moisture and fungi.
  
  These bees are hairy and look similar to honeybees but smaller (5-12mm long). All are black except for the South Island species Leoproctus fulvescens, which is covered with dense orange-yellow hair. Unlike honeybees, these are solitary bees and dig nest holes in the ground. Some species prefer fine-grained soil whereas others prefer coastal sand.
  

  • Family Colletidae, Genus Leioproctus, Subgenus Leioproctus, Species: L. boltoni, L. huakiwi, L. hukarere, L. imitatus, L. kanapuu, L. keehua, L. metallicus, L. pango, L. purpureus, L. vestitus, L. waipounamu.

  • Subgenus Nesocolletes, Species: L. fulvescens, L. hudsoni, L. maritimus, L. monticola, L. nunui, L. paahaumaa, L. pekanui.
    

• HYLAEUS: The six native species of Hylaeus bees are long and slender (7-9mm), almost hairless and are black with small yellow markings on the face and thorax, so are also referred to as masked bees. They make nests in branches or old beetle holes in logs. They are thought to be more primitive as they have not evolved to carry pollen on the back legs and carry pollen in the stomach instead.
  

  • Family Colletidae, Genus Hylaeus, Subgenus Prosopisteron, Species: H. agilis, H. capitosus, H. kermadecensis, H. matamoko, H. murihiku, H. relegatus.
    

• LASIOGLOSSUM: The four native species of Lasioglossum bees are the smallest (4-8mm) and are also known as sweat bees because they are attracted to and feed on human sweat for the salt and minerals. They are black or greenish, moderately hairy and next in the soil found along fencelines, stopbanks and ditch sides above water level.

  • Family Halictidae, Genus Lasioglossum, Subgenus Austrevylaeus, Species: L. mataroa, L. maunga, L. sordidum.

  • Subgenus Chilalictus, Species: L. cognatum (indigenous - shared with Australia)
    

New Zealand also has 13 introduced species of bee, including the best known Apis mellifera or honey bee and three species from the well-loved Bombus, bumblebee. If you take nothing else from this post, remember that we only have 28 native bee species in this country, which is tiny compared to the 20,000 species out there.

The world of bees is changing all of the time but this is the most recent account of our native bees I could find based on a 2024 article in The Wētā, by Brad G Howlett from Plant & Food Research, New Zealand.

Research Notes - The Australian Native Bee Book, Tim Heard. A Guide to Native Bees of Australia, Terry Houston. http://weta.ento.org.nz

1. The Origin of Bees

Scientists believe that bees evolved from hunting wasps over 125 million years ago, about the same time when flowering plants appeared.  These plants needed pollinators and so began the symbiotic relationship between flower and bee. 

The wasp hunts insects like flies, caterpillars and spiders to feed their young but at some point during their evolution, some wasps started consuming pollen and nectar. Maybe they were on a flower consuming prey and they got covered in pollen and started to lick it off and realised they enjoyed the taste. In any case, over a long period of time, these wasps increasingly relied on the pollen and nectar and eventually evolved into today’s bees (which are completely vegetarian).

How do we know bees were stinging dinosaurs? The oldest known bee fossil is a 3mm male embedded in amber from Myanmar that has been dated at ~100 million years old.  Before that, there was a bee fossil found in amber from New Jersey dated at ~80 million old, which is about the time when there was the rise and rise of angiosperms, plants that produce flowers and bear their seeds in fruits. 

Today there are over 300,000 species of angiosperms and they represent about 80% of all known living green plants. Interestingly, today there are also now over 20,000 species of bees world-wide, most of which pollinate those angiosperms.

In New Zealand, there was also a recent discovery of a 14.6 million year old bee fossil discovered in mudstone near Outram in Otago, marking the first bee fossil found in Zealandia (the submerged continent that includes New Zealand).   They named it Leioproctus barrydonovani, after the well known NZ entomologist, the late Barry Donovan (1941-2022).  The ancient insect belongs to Leioproctus, a large genius within the plasterer bee family Colletidae.

As to what the first bee species was, no-one is completely sure. Some scientists believe the melittids occupy the most basal position in the family tree and all bees have evolved from these bees.

My next post will describe how those 20,000 bees are grouped into seven families to help make it easier for you to understand the big differences in the bees.

(Research Notes - A Guide to Native Bees of Australia, Terry Houston)