Orchid Bees of the Great Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglissini)

We generally perceive urban areas as sites of very low biodiversity, contaminated and with little potential for ecological research. This is because, for a long time, we were taught in schools from a young age that this is a characteristic of these ecosystems. However, recent studies aimed at generating inventories of urban species revealed that in the Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica there are at least 674 species of Hymenoptera, of which 19 are orchid bees (Apidae: Apinae: Euglossini), two of them from the genus Eufriesea, 10 from the genus Euglossa, 5 from the genus Eulaema, and 2 from the genus Exaerete. These species have very specific environmental requirements that make them indicators of good environmental health, thus breaking this myth of urban areas; this could be because all species share a very similar metallic green coloration, which could be interpreted by those unfamiliar with their taxonomy as a single species. This article presents an identification key for these species, as well as brief details on the state of knowledge about them.