Author: the author and year of description of the genus. It helps to make sure that this is the right genus and not an homonym in the literature.

Type species:  The species chosen to carry the name of the genus (if the genus is split, the group with the type species will keep the genus name.)
Subgenera: Some genera are subdivided into smaller groups of species, called subgenera. Subgenera identification can be a first and useful step for species identification in large genera.
Synonyms:  Genera, like species, can sometime bear multiple names in the literature. Only one is correct, but this list will help you to identify the different names of the genus in case you study older literature or specimens with old identifications.
Classification
Every bee belong to the lineage (or clade) Anthophila, but the species are divided in different Families, different Subfamilies within the Families and different Tribes within Subfamilies.
The size range of the genus, because some genera are very small or big, which can help for identification. Each black line is 1 cm. Greys ones are 0,5cm. The two bee silhouettes represent the min and max sizes estimated from the literature.
The known distribution of the species, per country of occurence. A white country doesn't mean that the genus is absent, just that it hadn't been recorded during the assessment for the European Red list of Bees by Nieto and collaborators.
Difficulty to assign a genus name with confidence.
Easy = the genus can be identified at a glance on the field with little risk of confusion, if one knows what to look for.
Medium = a verification under a microscope may be necessary, but the criteria to distinguish the genus from other genera are conspicuous.
Hard = Inspection of subtle criteria under the microscope is required to distinguish the genus from close genera. For hard genera, it is best to seek confirmation by someone knowledgeable about wild bees.
Distinctive traits
A quick description of traits that can help to confirm an identification.
Morphologically close genera and how to distinguish them
A list of other genera that can be confused with the genus, and of the traits to look for in order to distinguish them.
General comments on species identification
Some comments about species identification within the genus, such as the difficulty, the traits to look at to distinguish the species, and sometime how to prepare the specimens to facilitate the identification to the species level.
An interactive tool to identify the specimens to the species.
Unfortunately, these tools are yet to be developed for most of the genera, but hopefully, with time and help from funding sources, we hope to build them for every genus.
List of the species found in Europe
It is easier to identify a species when we know what are the known alternatives.
References with identification keys for some of the species:
A list of references to look for in order to identify the specimens to the species level, to help you when no Species ID tool is available.
To go further
There are already many information on wild bees online. This section aims at listing other online sources of information.
Page contributors
A list of people who contributed to make the information on the genus as accurate and as up to date as possible.
References used to write this page
Information recorded in the webpage were published in this literature.