List of bees of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. The invertebrate fauna found here is diverse: there are approximately 2 million species of arthropods found across the world and the number is rising, as many new species continue to be discovered. As such, it is difficult to specify the exact number of species found within a certain region. The following list describes the Bees of Sri Lanka.

Bees

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Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera. Suborder: Apocrita.

Bees are the primary pollinators of terrestrial flowering plants. The hairs within their bodies help to function as efficient pollinators. The greatest levels of bee diversity are confined to warm temperate regions of the world. There are approximately 70,000 bee species described in the world with nearly 450 genera and 7 families. Sri Lanka comprises 149 species of 38 genera and 4 families. Bee research in Sri Lanka is carried out in large part by Dr. Inoka Karunaratne et al. from University of Peradeniya.[1][2]

Family: Apidae Common bees

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Family Colletidae - Polyester bees

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Family: Halictidae - Sweat bees

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Family: Megachilidae - Leafcutter bees

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Undescribed

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  • Austronomia sp. 1 determined by Pauly 2003
  • Austronomia sp. 2 determined by Pauly 2003
  • Gnathonomia sp. 2
  • Leuconomia sp. determined by Pauly 2003
  • Maynenomia sp. 1
  • Maynenomia sp. 2
  • Pachynomia sp.
  • Amegilla sp.[manuscript name scintillans of Lieftinck, 1977]
  • Trigona sp. [3]

References

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  • Inoka, Wa; Karunaratne, P; Edirisinghe, Jayanthi P (28 March 2008). "Keys to the identification of common bees of Sri Lanka". Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka. 36 (1): 69. doi:10.4038/jnsfsr.v36i1.134.
  • Endemic Bees of Sri Lanka
  • Channa. N. B. Bambaradeniya (2006) The Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research and Conservation; IUCN Publication ISBN 955-8177-51-2
  • Karunaratne et al 2006 Sri Lanka

Notes

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  1. ^ "Dr. Inoka Karunaratne". Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Keys to the identification of common bees of Sri Lanka". Academia,edu. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  3. ^ Karunaratne, Inoka. "An updated checklist of bees of sri lanka with new records". Academia. Retrieved 27 September 2016.