27 Apoidea (Hymenoptera)

The known bee fauna of Mexico is the result of 236 years of taxonomic work during which ca. 95 authors have contributed to the description of species. The authors that, at present, have described the majority of the Mexican species are: Cockerell (with 443 taxa), Timberlake (393), Cresson (187), Smith (92), LaBerge (68), Michener (62), and Vachal (50), who have contributed 77.5% of all known taxa. The apifauna of Mexico is composed of seven families (if one include Anthophoridae in Apidae), 144 genera, and 1800 species and subspecies. The families with the greatest numbers of species are Apidae (597) and Andrenidae (522), representing 62% of the total. The remainder: Colletidae (98), Oxaeidae (10), Halictidae (217), Melittidae (11), and Megachilidae (345), represent 38% of the taxa. The genera richest in species are: Perdita (248), Megachile (110), Andrena (91), Lasioglossum (79), Exomalopsis (74), Heterosanis (57), Centris (54), Colletes (51), Melissodes (48), and Calliopsis (45) collectively representing 48% of all taxa. In contrast, there are 38 and 21 genera (41%) with one and two species, respectively. The genera Paragapostemon, Aztecanthidium, Agapanthinus and Loxoptilus are endemic to Mexico. Pectinapis, Mexalictus and Xenopanurgus have species which borely range into the United States and might also be considered endemics. The diversity of Mexican bees appears intermediate between those of the United Stated and Central America.