Halictus rubicundus
| Halictus rubicundus | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Halictidae |
| Genus: | Halictus |
| Species: | H. rubicundus |
| Binomial name | |
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Halictus rubicundus (Christ, 1791) |
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Halictus rubicundus is a species of sweat bee found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. H. rubicundus was introduced into North America from the Old World during one of two main invasions of Halictus subgenera. These invasions likely occurred via the Bering land bridge at times of low sea level during the epoch.
The species exhibits different social behaviors depending on climate: it is a solitary species in cooler regions, but eusocial in warmer areas. Occasionally, solitary and eusocial colonies appear simultaneously in the same population. The sweat bees are extensively studied for their variability in social behavior, which has become a model for social plasticity. This variability has contributed to an understanding of social evolution in behavior.
Halictus rubicundus is a species of the order of Hymenoptera and family Halictidae, more commonly known as sweat bees. This common name comes from their known attraction to perspiration. This species exhibits polymorphic social behavior that varies with environmental conditions, and other species of the family Halictidae are thought to have similar variability in sociality. The genus Halictus was described by Latreille in 1804.
The family Halictidae is unique and easy to identify by its metallic appearance.Halictus rubicundus specifically are less metallic, but have white stripes on the bottom of their abdominal segment and yellow-orange legs. The bee is about 1 cm in body length and brown in color, with fine white bands across the apices of the abdominal segments. The males are more slender, with longer antennae and yellow markings on the face and legs; they can be distinguished from males of similar species by the absence of an apical hair band on the terminal abdominal segment. In social populations, females of the first brood, the workers, can be identified because they are slightly smaller than the second brood females, the foundresses.
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