Macropis
Guides
Epeoloides
Macropis Cuckoo Bee
Epeoloides is a genus of kleptoparasitic (cuckoo) bees in the family Apidae, tribe Osirini. The genus comprises two known species: Epeoloides coecutiens (Fabricius, 1775) in Europe and Epeoloides pilosulus (Cresson, 1878) in North America. Both species are nest parasites of oil-collecting bees in the genus Macropis (Melittidae), which themselves are specialized pollinators of oil-producing flowers in the genus Lysimachia. This tripartite ecological dependency—between flower, host bee, and parasite—makes Epeoloides one of the rarest and most vulnerable bee genera in the Holarctic region.
Epeoloides pilosulus
Macropis Cuckoo Bee
Epeoloides pilosulus is one of the rarest bees in North America, an obligate kleptoparasite of oil-collecting Macropis bees (Melittidae). It belongs to the tribe Osirini, a group of parasitic bees entirely dependent on oil-collecting bees as hosts. The species was thought extinct from the 1950s until its rediscovery in Nova Scotia in 2004, with subsequent records from Alberta, Ontario, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Michigan extending its known range. Its survival depends on a three-way ecological relationship: E. pilosulus requires Macropis host bees, which in turn require oil-producing Lysimachia flowers for larval provisioning.