The Neotropical Region is one of the most diverse places in the world. In this region are found most of the lineages of bees that collect floral oils, a unique characteristic among insects. The genus Centris is an extensive group of this type of bees, which are distributed from the United States to Patagonia, in the extreme south of South America. The largest, most striking, colorful and beautiful species of the genus are found in the humid forests of South America, all of them forming part of the subgenus Centris (Melanocentris). This book brings a taxonomic review of all the species of this subgenus, including the description of numerous species hitherto unknown to science. Along with the description of these species, the new subgenus Centris (Odontoxys) is also described, which contains species that are distributed from Mexico to Argentina. The book also includes redescriptions and photographs of both sexes of all species, along with distribution maps, an identification key, and lists of material examined and of floral hosts.

Centris (Paracentris) Cameron is one of the most specious and morphologically diverse subgenera of the bee genus Centris Fabricius. These two features, along with the lack of modern taxonomic revisions make this group one of the lineages with the greatest taxonomic problems within Centridini. Partial revisions of groups of species from North and South America have been published, but none comprehensively studying all species described. In this book are studied all species of Centris (Paracentris) for the first time, providing diagnoses and redescriptions of both sexes. The following twenty one species are described as new: C. aenigmatica sp. nov., C. agyniax sp. nov., C. areequipensis sp. nov., C. aymara sp. nov., C. bagualis sp. nov., C. caribensis sp. nov., C. comonoxa sp. nov., C. diaguita sp. nov., C. euctenoda sp. nov., C. hexirrhina sp. nov., C. inca sp. nov., C. mexicanaides sp. nov., C. milluni sp. nov., C. multistriata sp. nov., C. niveiceps sp. nov., C. rasmusseni sp. nov., C. rozeni sp. nov., C. sacsayhuaman sp. nov., C. tayabamba sp. nov., C. xenopoda sp. nov., and C. yawar sp. nov., mainly from the South American Andes, including the first species recorded from the Caribbean. Centris satana Snelling is proposed as new junior synonym of C. laevibullata Snelling. In addition, the male of C. cisnerosi (Cockerell) and the female of C. euphenax Cockrell are described for the first time. An identification key, figures, maps, new distribution records, floral hosts, and an updated catalog for all species of the subgenus are also provided.

This book contains the first described species of Centris, even before the description of the genus. Considering this fact, the entire layout and color palette draw inspiration from the books of naturalists of the XVIII and XIX centuries. For the creation of the cover, I used one of the beautiful designs made by the German naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), one of the first women in history who dedicated herself to in situ observation of insects. The drawing corresponds to flowers of Iris latifolia (Mill.) Voss (Iridaceae), Delphinium sp. (Ranunculaceae), and Narcissus sp. (Amaryllidaceae) appearing in the third chapter of her work “Neues Blumenbuch: Florum Fasciculus Tertius: dritter Blumen-Theil”, published in 1680. Surrounding Maria’s flowers, were added digitized photos of some of the Centris species studied in the book using the photobashing, a technique that combines photographs with digital illustrations. The title of the book is made up of three paragraphs, indicating the topics that are discussed in it. The first is the main title, while the others complement the information in the first part, following the pattern used by ancient naturalists to name their works. Following this line, the text is written in Latin, the language in which science was disseminated at that time. Although the book is in English, there are some specific item titles that are also written in Latin. There were used the words “Territōrium” to refer to the distribution, “Materia typica” for type material, “Patria” for the type locality, “Commentārium” for comments, “Variātiō” for intraspecific variation, “Index flōrum” for floral records, and “Specimina examinata” to refer to the material examined. The organization of the figures in plates follows the pattern that I used in my previous books, except for those that show specimens in nature. In that case, images are organized according to the Fibonacci sequence –also called divine proportion– proposed by the Italian mathematician Leonardo de Pisa (1170–1240) and which has been associated since ancient times with ideas of harmony, beauty and perfection.

This book deals with two lineages of solitary bees that are distributed throughout the Neotropical Region, collecting oil from plants with oil-bearing flowers, producing their reproduction. New species for science belonging to the two groups studied are described here: the subgenera Centris (Aphemisia) and C. (Schisthemisia). Additionally, diagnoses of the species already described, identification keys, a complete list of floral hosts, distribution maps and an updated catalogue of all the species studied are also presented.

Volume 161 of Zoologica reviews and analyses the evolution and phylogeny of bees. It is subdivided into two parts Part One: A Preamble to the Evolution and Phylogeny of Bees provides a complete and critical review of all previous attempts to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree of bees (Anthophila / Apiformes) based on morphological, bionomic and molecular approaches and pre- sented in chronological sequence up to and including recent publications. At the same time, the introductory part examines trends in the classification of bees and compares available hypotheses of bee evolution. Part One closes with a family-wise delineation of the fossil history of bees. Part Two: A Phylogenetic Study of Bees in Light of Morphological Evidence adds an experimental study to complement the bibliographical analysis provided in Part One. The phylogenetic relationships of the larger taxonomic units of bees are tested anew using an extensive dataset of selected morphological features. The study uses all common and current computer-aided techniques of cladistic analysis (parsimony, successive/implied weight, Bayesian and neighbor-joining), which are applied to representatives of all seven families, 22 subfamilies and 48 of 58 tribes of bees. The conclusions drawn from this are evaluated for the major groups (i.e., short-tongued and long-tongued bees), and separately for the families, subfamilies and tribes in each case. In a world currently dominated by molecular genetic approaches to phylogeny, this study clearly demonstrates that it is not anachronistic to engage in morphological efforts, because progress can be significantly advanced and the pool of available scientific arguments enriched. The diversity of the object of investigation justifies a variety of methods. This monograph is a much needed reference work of high practical value for all students of bee evolution, phylogeny and morphology. Further, it is ideally suited as good introductory reading material for university level students.