Author: Spinola 1839

Type species: Eucera antennata Fabricius, 1793 = Apis malvae Rossi, 1790, by original designation.
Subgenus: Tetralonia s.str.
Synonym: Macrocera Latreille 1810 (not Meigen 1803)
GENUS ID
DIFFICULTY
 HARD
Clade: Anthophila
Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Eucerini
Distinctive traits
  • Males with very long antennae and yellow clypeus (in common with other Eucerini)
  • Eucerini with three submarginal cells and 3 or 4 maxillary palp segments
Morphologically close genera and how to distinguish them
  • Eucera and Tetraloniella
Tetralonia maxillary palpus has 3 or 4 segments, a well-developped keirotrichiae on the hind-tibia, and a scopa with sparse and plumose hairs.
Eucera (Synhalonia) and Tetraloniella have maxillary palpi with 5 or 6 segments, a keirotrichiae area smaller than half the tibia length and dense, often simple, hairs on the scopa.
General comments on Tetralonia species identification
There is only one species of Tetralonia recorded in Europe. However, the genus identification has to be performed with care since Tetralonia malvae is morphologically very close to Tetraloniella species.
List of the Tetralonia species found in Europe (IUCN 2014 + Rasmont et al 2017):
Tetralonia (Tetralonia) malvae (Rossi, 1790)
References used to write this page:
  • Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World, 2nd Edition. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
  • Michez D., Rasmont P., Terzo, M., Vereecken, N. 2019. Abeilles d'Europes. Hymenoptères d'Europes, Volume 1. N.A.P. Editions.
  • Nieto, A., Roberts, S. P., Kemp, J., Rasmont, P., Kuhlmann, M., García Criado, M., ... & Michez, D. 2014. European red list of bees. Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union, 98.
  •  Rasmont, P., Devalez, Jelle, Pauly, A., Michez, D. & Radchenko, V.G. 2017. Addition to the checklist of IUCN European wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Annales de la Société entomologique de France 53: 17-32.