Panurgine
Guides
Calliopsis
mining bees, panurgine bees
Calliopsis is a genus of solitary mining bees in the family Andrenidae, comprising over 80 described species distributed throughout the western hemisphere. These small to medium-sized bees are ground-nesting, with females excavating burrows in sandy or loose soils. The genus includes both polylectic and oligolectic species, with some showing tight specialization to particular pollen hosts such as Prosopis. Several species have been studied in detail for their nesting biology, foraging behavior, and host-parasite relationships with cleptoparasitic bees.