Crees Foundation - Orquid Bee Guide of Manu Learning Centre. orchid-bee-guide Crees Foundation | Page 4

Introduction Introducción
Orchid bees are brightly-coloured
insects exclusively found in the
Neotropics, from Mexico to the
North of Argentina. They are
classified in the Euglossini tribe of
the Apidae family2, which includes
all bees. Unlike other members of
their family, such as the honey bee,
orchid bees are mostly solitary.
However, some species do build
their nests near other individuals Las abejas de las orquídeas son
insectos de colores llamativos
distribuidos únicamente en el
Neotrópico (desde México hasta el
norte de Argentina)1. Se agrupan
en la tribu Euglossini, dentro de
la familia Apidae2, la cual incluye
a todas las abejas. Al contrario
que otros miembros de su familia,
como las abejas domésticas,
las abejas de las orquídeas
son generalmente solitarias.
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of their species, forming small
communities. They use a variety
of materials for nest building,
including plant resin, mud, bark,
leaves and even faeces.
Orchid bees visit a wide variety of
flowering plant species,
including, as their name
suggests, many orchids.
They visit the flowers
in search of food,
in the form of pollen
and nectar, and for the
aromatic compounds
produced by the plants3.
In return, the plants benefit from
the pollination services provided
by these bees. The long tongue and
large body size of some species
allows them to access flowers that
are unavailable to many other
insects, and they also fly long
distances (up to 20km in one day)4.
These characteristics make them
important specialist pollinators,
and orchid bees are the sole
Sin embargo, algunas especies
construyen sus nidos cerca de otros
individuos de su misma especie,
formando pequeñas comunidades.
Para construir sus nidos usan
diversos materiales: resinas, barro,
hojas, corteza e incluso heces.
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