Table 3.
A list of all known oil-foraging bees with their geographic distribution, number of species and fossil-documented or molecular-clock inferred ages.
| independent origins of oil foraging; genera with species numbers and geographical range | oldest fossils or molecular clock-based age (CI) | selected references on bee behaviour, phylogeny and clade ages |
|---|---|---|
| New World | ||
| Apidae, Centridini: Centris (230, 30 of these not foraging on oil) | expected to be as old as Malpighiaceae | Vogel (1974), Neff & Simpson (1981) and Sazima & Sazima (1989). For molecular phylogeny: S. Cardinal et al. Cornell University, ongoing |
| Apidae, Centridini: Epicharis (14–23) | expected to be as old as Malpighiaceae | Vogel (1974), Neff & Simpson (1981) and Sazima & Sazima (1989). For phylogeny: see Centris |
| Apidae, Tapinotaspidini: Arhysoceble (5), Caenonomada (3), Chalepogenus (21), Lanthanomelissa (5), Monoeca (8–9), Paratetrapedia (30), Tapinotaspis (3), Tapinotaspoides (4), Trigonopedia (4) | monophyly? | Vogel (1974), Neff & Simpson (1981) and Sazima & Sazima (1989). For molecular phylogeny: Antonio Aguiar, Museu de Zoologia de São Paulo, Tapinotaspidini, ongoing |
| Apidae, Tetrapediini: Tetrapedia (13) | ? | Vogel (1974, 1988), Neff & Simpson (1981) and Alves dos Santos et al. (2002) |
| Old World or Holarctic | ||
| Apidae, Ctenoplectrini: Ctenoplectra (16) | stem age Ctenoplectra: 56 (67–44) Myr | Vogel (1981a,b) and Schaefer & Renner (2008) |
| Melittidae, Macropidini: Macropis (16, Holarctic) | Palaeomacropis, 53 Myr | fossil: Michez et al. (2007). For molecular phylogeny see Michez et al. (2009b) |
| Melittidae, Melittini: Rediviva (24) | ? | Vogel (1984), Vogel & Michener (1985) and Steiner & Cruz (2009). For molecular phylogeny see Steiner & Cruz (2006) |