The bees of the Caatinga (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Apiformes): a species list and comparative notes regarding their distributionl

Abstract

A list of bee species recorded in the Caatinga region is presented, including literature and new data. Caatinga is a xerophilous vegetation characteristics of the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil. The species richness of its bee fauna is comparatively low with about 187 species and 77 genera (114 species and 45 genera of Apidae, 35, and 9 of Megachilidae, 18 and 7 of Halictidae, 13 and 9 of Colletide, and 8 and 7 of Andrenidae). Some genera, that are well diversified and relatively common in the Cerrado, an adjacent but more humid biome also characterized by open vegetation, are not recorded or rare in the Catinga, e.g. Epicharis, Monoeca, Paratetrapedia and Tetrapedia. By contrast the genera Diadasina, Melitoma and Leipodus are relatively well diversified in the Caatinga.