Halictus sexcinctus
| Halictus sexcinctus | |
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| Female Halictus sexcinctus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Halictidae |
| Subfamily: | Halictinae |
| Tribe: | Halictini |
| Genus: | Halictus |
| Species: | H.sexcinctus |
| Binomial name | |
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Halictus Sexcinctus Fabricius, 1775 |
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| Halictus sexcintus distribution | |
Halictus sexcinctus, commonly referred to as the Six-banded furrow bee, is a species of sweat bee found throughout Europe and as far east as Western Asia. The H. sexcinctus can be easily confused with the closely related species, Halictus scabiosae, due to very similar morphological features. H. sexcinctus show a social polymorphism in which different colonies can exhibit solitary, communal, or eusocial structure. Due to this large variance in social organization, it was suspected that it was not one species at all, but rather multiple, cryptic species. However, genetic analysis was able to confirm these varying populations as one species. H. sexcinctus will forage from multiple flower species, but prefers plant species with wide-open flowers. Their nests can be found dug into the ground in loamy or sandy soil.
Halictus sexcinctus is part of the family Halictidae, which are commonly referred to as the sweat bees. Species in the genus Halictus are the most recently evolved in the Halictid family, and H. sexcinctus falls into the most recently evolved clade of the family, which is a eusocial taxa. The Halictidae family has the most eusocial species of any bee family. Study of the sociality of this family has been held back by a lack of understanding of how the species are phylogenetically related, and how closely related species within the family show very different levels of sociality. Due to the different levels of sociality seen with the species, it was first thought possible that H. sexcinctus was actually a cryptic species. A genetic study of their showed H. sexcinctus is in fact one species. However, that study was not definitive, and further studies of their nuclear genes are needed to be sure.H. sexcinctus has been observed to be both solitary and eusocial. Because it belongs to a eusocial clade, its solitary behavior is an evolutionary reversion. However, H. sexcinctus is not alone in this, as there have been multiple losses of eusociality within the genus, such as in the species Halictus rubicundus.
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