Psithyrus
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Psithyrus
a genus of bees that are closely related to bumblebees (family Bombidae) and that parasitize their nests. Psithyri females deposit their eggs in the nests of the bumblebee hosts, which rear the young of the parasitic bees as their own. Adult psithyri are also accepted by the bumblebees as their own and are not driven from the nests. Psithyri greatly resemble their hosts in appearance; the female psithyri can only be distinguished from female bumblebees by the absence of pollen combs and pollen baskets on their legs.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive
Phylogenetic relationships and the origin of social parasitism in Vespidae and in Bombus and Psithyrus as revealed by enzyme genes.
Clustering of bumblebee subgenera based on interspecific genetic relationships (Hymenoptera, Apidae: Bombus and Psithyrus).
A numerical taxonomic analysis of the evolutionary relationships of Bombus and Psithyrus (Apidae: Hymenoptera).
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