Translingual

Apis mellifera

Proper noun

Apoidea

1. A taxonomic superfamily within the order Hymenoptera – the bees and some wasps.

Usage notes

Wasps in this group were previously collected in the now obsolete superfamily Sphecoidea (synonymous with the series Spheciformes), which grouping is, however, paraphyletic. Bees are now thought to have descended from wasps from the family Crabronidae.

Hypernyms

• (superfamily): Insecta - class; Dicondylia - clade; Pterygota - subclass; Metapterygota - clade; Neoptera - infraclass; Eumetabola, Endopterygota - clades; Hymenopterida - superorder; Hymenoptera - order; Apocrita - suborder

Hyponyms

• (superfamily): Ampulicidae (cockroach wasps), Andrenidae, Apidae (many bees, including honey bees), Colletidae (masked bees, miner bees and plasterer bees), Crabronidae (some wasps), Halictidae (sweat bees), Heterogynaidae (certain wasps), Megachilidae, Melittidae, Sphecidae (thread-waisted wasps), Stenotritidae (families)
  • †Angarosphecidae, †Paleomelittidae (extinct families)