Diversity of Apidae Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) collected from tehsil Ladpura, Kota (Rajasthan)

The present study is confined to one of the tehsil Ladpura of district Kota, Rajasthan, India. In Ladpura, Kota all the three subfamilies of Apidae, that is, Xylocopinae, Nomadinae and Apinae which are found in Rajasthan have been recorded. Out of the total 11 tribes described from Rajasthan, eight were reported from the study area. Nine genus were identified from the samples collected from the region and 18 species belonging to these genus has been classified. From the Genus Xylocopa, three species: Xylocopa aestuans, Xylocopa auripennis, and Xylocopa fenestrate were collected. Genus Ceratina had two species Ceratina binghami and Ceratina smaragdula. In Genus Braunsapis, three species identified were Braunsapis mixta, Braunsapis picitarsis, and Braunsapis puangensis. Subfamily Nomadinae was the smallest with only one tribe Nomadini and a single representative genus Nomada. From the subfamily Apinae, maximum species were collected which can be classified into four tribes; the tribe Anthophorini included one Genus Amegilla with three species, namely, Amegilla zonata, Amegilla cingulifera, and Amegilla niveocincta, from the tribe Melectini species of genus Thyreus were collected. The single genus Tetragonula with the species Tetragonula iridipennis of the tribe Meliponini was collected and the tribe Apini had genus Apis with Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, Apis florea, and Apis mellifera. . KEYWORDS :Apidae, Apoidea, Bees, Diversity, Kota, Ladpura, Rajasthan