Study on Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in Iran: faunestics, distributions and applications
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عنوان دوره: سومین کنگره بین المللی حشره شناسی ایران
نویسندگان
Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran,
چکیده
The superfamily Apoidea Latreille, 1802 mostly known as pollinating insects have a huge economic value in the world. For years this group of insects was rarely studied by Iranian entomologists, however, nowadays there are a number of ongoing researches on this important group of insects. The superfamily consists of two groups known as bees and wasps. All bees are nearly plant feeders; while adult wasps, often visit flowers for nectar, like bees; adult sphecoid wasps do not collect or feed on pollen. Based on Michener idea; the Apoidea as a whole can be recognized by a number of characters, of which two are the most conspicuous: (1) the posterior pronotal lobe is distinct but rather small, usually well separated from below the tegula; and (2) the pronotum extends ventrally as a pair of processes, one on each side, that encircle or nearly encircle the thorax behind the front coxae. A scientist called Brothers had divided the Apoidea into two groups: the sphecoid (or apoid) wasps, or Spheciformes, and the bees, or Apiformes. In the past some authors also used the term Anthophila for the bees. Based on a classification; Superfamily Apoidea comprises of Wasps including Ampulicidae, Sphecidae, Crabronidae or Spheciformes (could be subdivided) and seven families of bees including; Stenotritidae, Colletidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, Melittidae, Megachilidae, and Apidae. Almost from 2005 I have started studying bees of Iran by focusing on genus Bombus. Thereafter, I started collecting and working on all 6 families of bees (Anthophila) existed in Iran, (Stenotritidae; just located in Australia.). During these studies; my students and I have published faunestic information on various families. Now I have a collection of more than 50.000 specimens of 310 identified species verified by European experts. There are many unidentified specimens yet to work on. Identified species belong to families; 1. Megachilidae (3678 specimens examined) including 86 identified species, 2. Halictidae (1179 specimens examined) including 78 species, 3. Colletidae (250 specimens examined) including 24 identified species, 4. Andrenidae 373 specimens examined) including 54 identified species, 5. Mellitidae (34 specimens examined) including 2 identified species and, 6. Apidae including tribe Bombini especially genus Bombus (3361 specimens examined of which 64 belonged to subgenus Psithyrus) including 34 identified species, genus Anthophora and Habropoda (1200 specimens examined) including 24 identified species and 8 identified species from Xylocopini and other genus like Tetralonia etc. All specimens are deposited in ‘Iranian Pollinator Insect Museum’ of Yasouj University (IPIM). Also I participate in joint international studies of bees around the world, IUCN, especially on Apidae (Bombus & Anthophora). Morphological and Molecular studies like COI bar-coding and other aspects of Iranian bees’ such as biology, pheromones, behavior, pollinations, some neurophysiology aspects and rearing have been studied in our lab too. I have also conducted studies on the mass culture of indigenous bees in Iran. The results will speed up the development of Iranian breeding colonies of pollinators which could be realeased in greenhouses and orchards for pollinating.
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