Ceratina (Ceratinidia)

Taxonomy

Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Xylocopinae
Tribe: Ceratinini
Genus: Ceratina Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Ceratinidia Cockerell and Porter, 1899
Common name: small carpenter bees

Overview

Ceratinidia is the most common subgenus of Ceratina in Asia (Hirashima 1971). They are black bees with abundant yellow markings on their head, thorax, and abdomen. Their body length varies from 5.0–11.5 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Hirashima 1971aHirashima 1971a:
Hirashima, Y. 1971. Subgeneric classification of the genus Ceratina Latreille of Asia and West Pacific, with comments on the remaining subgenera of the world (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 16 (4): 349ndash;375.)

• Body black with yellow markings on head, thorax, legs, and abdomen.
• Frons, vertexvertex:
  the area between the ocelli and the back of the head
  , and paraocular areaparaocular area:
  the area extending along the sides of the face parallel to the eye
  above the antennae distinctly punctatepunctate:
  studded with tiny holes
  .
• Maxillary palpipalpi:
  sensory appendages part of the labium and maxilla
  6-segmented.
• Mesepisternum mesepisternum:
  the second or middle segment on the side of the thorax bearing the middle legs and the forewings, the pronotum is the first segment
  densely punctatepunctate:
  studded with tiny holes
  .
• Preoccipital carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  can be present or absent.
• T1–T5 and S1–S5 with graduligraduli:
  A transverse line on abdominal segments of some bees that is formed by a groove or a step between two regions that differ in height. This line can be well developed and present across the entire segment but can also be diminished or absent through part of the segment, requiring close inspection.
  present, although gradulusgradulus:
  A transverse line on abdominal segments of some bees that is formed by a groove or a step between two regions that differ in height. This line can be well developed and present across the entire segment but can also be diminished or absent through part of the segment, requiring close inspection.
  on male S5S5:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  can be weak.
• Female S2S2:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  and S3S3:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  with wax glands present.
• Male gonostyligonostyli:
  the apical-most appendage of the male genitalia, which is usually quite hairy
  with a comb of long hairs at the apexapex:
  end of any structure
  .

May be confused with

Ceratina (Ceratinidia) may be confused with some species in C. (Xanthoceratina), C. (Lioceratina), and C. (Catoceratina), because of their similar yellow markings on all body segments. However, they can be separated from these other subgenera by the dense, coarse punctures on the fronsfrons:
the area between the antennae and ocelli on the bee's head
, vertexvertex:
the area between the ocelli and the back of the head
, and paraocular areaparaocular area:
the area extending along the sides of the face parallel to the eye
above the antennae.

Host associations

Ceratina (Ceratinidia) are common of pollinators of various wild plants in far eastern Asia. They have been observed visiting the flowers of a number of plant families including Asteraceae, Caprifoliaceae, Ericaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae (Lee et al. 2005Lee et al. 2005:
Lee, S., H. Kim, and W. Lee 2005. A review of the small carpenter bees, Ceratina , from Korea, with description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomological News 116(3): 137ndash;146.).

Nesting behavior

Adult females of many species of Ceratina (Ceratinidia) use holes in the narrow stems or twigs of dead plants as nests for brood rearing including Asteraceae (Artemisia) and Poaceae (Miscanthus and Phragmatis) (Lee et al. 2005Lee et al. 2005:
Lee, S., H. Kim, and W. Lee 2005. A review of the small carpenter bees, Ceratina , from Korea, with description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomological News 116(3): 137ndash;146.).

Diversity

Ceratina (Ceratinidia) is the most diverse subgenus of Ceratina in Asia and contains a total of 50 species (Hirashima 1971aHirashima 1971a:
Hirashima, Y. 1971. Subgeneric classification of the genus Ceratina Latreille of Asia and West Pacific, with comments on the remaining subgenera of the world (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 16 (4): 349ndash;375.; Warrit et al. 2012Warrit et al. 2012:
Warrit, N., C.D Michener, and C. Lekprayoon. 2012. A review of the small carpenter bees of the genus Ceratina , subgenus Ceratinidia , of Thailand (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 114(3): 398ndash;416.; Gupta et al. 2013Gupta et al. 2013:
Gupta, R.K., V.K. Mattu, and A. Kumar. 2013. A new species of the genus Ceratina Latreille, subgenus Ceratinidia Cockerell amp; Porter (Hymenoptera: Apidae), from Himachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Environmental Biological Sciences 27(1): 75ndash;77.; Ascher and Pickering 2020Ascher and Pickering 2020:
Ascher, J.S. and J. Pickering. 2020. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=Carinulaamp;name=Megachileamp;flags=subgenus :). The subgenus has been divided into three species groups, i.e., the compacta, bryanti, and flavipes (Yasumatsu and Hirashima 1969Hirashima 1969:
Hirashima, Y. 1969. Synopsis of the genus Pithitis Klug of the world (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Pacific Insects 11: 649ndash;669.; Shiokawa and Hirashima 1982Shiokawa and Hirashima 1982:
Shiokawa, M. and Y. Hirashima. 1982. Synopsis of the flavipes -group of the genus Ceratina of Eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae). Esakia 19: 177ndash;184.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Ceratina (Ceratinidia) is found from Sri Lanka and India, north through China to the maritime province of Siberia, east to Japan, and throughout southeastern Asia, including Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia east to the western tip of New Guinea (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

References

Ascher J.S. and J. Pickering. August 2019. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=Ceratinidia&name=Ceratina&flags=subgenus:

Gupta, R.K., V.K. Mattu, and A. Kumar. 2013. A new species of the genus Ceratina Latreille, subgenus Ceratinidia Cockerell & Porter (Hymenoptera: Apidae), from Himachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Environmental Biological Sciences 27(1): 75–77.

Hirashima, Y. 1971. Subgeneric classification of the genus Ceratina Latreille of Asia and West Pacific, with comments on the remaining subgenera of the world (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 16(4): 349–375.

Lee, S., H. Kim, and W. Lee 2005. A review of the small carpenter bees, Ceratina, from Korea, with description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomological News 116(3): 137–146.

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.

Shiokawa, M. and Y. Hirashima. 1982. Synopsis of the flavipes-group of the genus Ceratina of Eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae). Esakia 19: 177–184.

Warrit, N., C.D Michener, and C. Lekprayoon. 2012. A review of the small carpenter bees of the genus Ceratina, subgenus Ceratinidia, of Thailand (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 114(3): 398–416.

Yasumatsu, K. and Y. Hirashima. 1969. Synopsis of the small carpenter bee genus Ceratina of Japan (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae). Kontyu 37: 61–70.