The oil-collecting bees of Centris (Melanocentris) (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
The oil-collecting bees of Centris (Melanocentris) (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Author: Felipe Vivallo

Publisher: Felipe Vivallo

Published: 2022-04-15

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 6500433815

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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.

De Apibus phantasticis generis Centris descripti a Johan Fabricius in 1804 (stricto sensu), cum descriptione specierum novarum, ubi occurrunt, flores quae visitant et quomodo eas cognoscimus
De Apibus phantasticis generis Centris descripti a Johan Fabricius in 1804 (stricto sensu), cum descriptione specierum novarum, ubi occurrunt, flores quae visitant et quomodo eas cognoscimus

Author: Felipe Vivallo

Publisher: Felipe Vivallo

Published: 2024-09-12

Total Pages: 657

ISBN-13: 6501127254

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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.