The morphology of the antenna cleaners of 175 species of bees representing more than 50 genera was investigated and described comparatively. An ancestral type of antenna cleaner was found in most short‐tongued bees (except Oxaeidae and Ctenoplectridae) as well as in Nomadinae, Ceratini, and some Megachilidae. A further ancestral character (shallow notch), however, was only found in some of these bees (but throughout Colletidae and Halictidae). A derived type of antenna cleaner was found in Anthophora, Eucera and related genera, as well as in Melecta, Ancyloscelis, and Ctenoplectra. Several further (derived) types of antenna cleaners were found in Anthophoridae and Apidae. A large variety of antenna cleaners (ancestral as well as derived ones) were found in the Megachilidae. Possible phylogenetic consequences are suggested in Figure 37.
SUMMARYThis paper describes the antenna cleaning activity of the worker honeybee (Apis mellifica) in detail. Our results are documented by a series of photographs of a grooming honeybee taken simultaneously from front, from the side and from above. The flagellum is cleaned by being inserted into the tibio-tarsal antenna cleaner (strigilis) of the ipsilateral fore leg. During the cleaning stroke an angle of about 100° is maintained between the tibia and the tarsus. During the cleaning procedure the antenna is almost completely enclosed by the strigilis ; its anterior part is brushed by the strigular comb, its posterior side cleaned by the posterior velum of the strigular spur.
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