Euglossa imperialis
| Euglossa imperialis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | Euglossa |
| Species: | E. imperialis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Euglossa imperialis (Cockerell, 1922) |
|
Euglossa imperialis is a bee species in the family Apidae. It is considered to be one of the most important pollinators to many neotropical orchid species in mainland Tropical America. It is also one of the most common non-parasitic euglossine species in lowland Panama.E. imperialis, unlike many other bee species, is not a social bee in the sense that there is no apparent morphological or physiological division within the species to distinguish individual bees to be part of a worker or reproductive caste.
E. imperialis is a bee species of the Euglossini tribe and Apidae family. The Euglossini are better known as “orchid bees,” as they are known to interact almost exclusively with flowering orchid species as pollinators, and are known to search for nectar and chemical fragrances as well. The Euglossini tribe consists of approximately 240 species grouped into five genera—Euglossa, Eufriesea, Eulaema, Exaerete, and Aglae— all of which are spread from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. These euglossine bees comprise up to around 25% of local bee communities in lowland wet forests in this region. The Euglossini tribe is also part of the larger Apinae sub-family, which contains many of the known advanced social bees, such as the honey bees, stingless bees, and bumblebees; however, bees of the Euglossini tribe are non-social in nature, meaning that they have not developed a colonial structure with Queen-drone interactions.
Temporal variation in the structure of euglossine bee communities reveal the relative contributions of varying ecological processes to the shaping of insect communities which include resource competition and habitat filtering. Specifically, phylogenetic diversity changes across latitudinal gradients, in which the more seasonal climates have decreased phylogenetic diversity. It has therefore been theorized that the same ecological processes that drive phylogenetic diversity geographically, also shape communities at the temporal level within a given community.
...
Wikipedia