Revision of the Cleptoparasitic bee genus Coelioxys (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Canada.

摘要

Chapter 1 of this thesis discusses the importance of biodiversity and the continued shortfalls in the prevention of ongoing losses. Biological inventories may be the first step in understanding communities however estimates of species richness range in orders of magnitude. The importance of sound taxonomic and phylogenetic work is discussed. Bees, important pollinators, are illustrative of these concerns and thus the focus of this work.;The second chapter consists of a revision of Coelioxys in Canada, a relatively common but poorly studied group of cleptoparasitic bees. The revision includes redescriptions of all species as well as a fully illustrated key to the subgenera and species. The results of a combined phylogenetic analysis which includes 54 primarily morphological characters as well as CO1 barcode data is presented. Prior to this work only 14 species of Coelioxys were recorded in Canada, after completion a total of 18 species are recognized.