Aglae

For other uses, see Aglae (disambiguation).

Aglae is a genus of euglossine bees, with the only described species Aglae caerulea. Like all orchid bees, it is restricted to the Neotropics. They are metallic blue. This species, like the genus Exaerete, is a nest parasite on free-living Euglossini. A. caerulea lays its eggs in the nests of Eulaema nigrita, and possibly other Eulaema species.

Aglae
In Peru
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Apidae
Tribe:	Euglossini
Genus:	Aglae Lepeletier & Serville, 1825
Species:	A. caerulea
Binomial name
Aglae caerulea Lepeletier & Serville, 1825
Synonyms
Aglae coerulea Lepeletier & Serville, 1825 (Missp.)

Among other substances, males of this species are attracted by methyl cinnamate baits.^[1]

Name

The Ancient Greek, Αγλαιη means "beauty". The original 1825 publication describing the species spelled the epithet as "cœrulea" (for "blue"), which nearly all subsequent authors misspelled as caerulea rather than coerulea, but under Article 33.3.1 of the ICZN, the caerulea spelling must be maintained.^{[note 1]}

In Ecuador

Distribution

A. caerulea was thought to occur only in the Amazon basin, in the rainforests of northern Bolivia, western Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, Suriname, and Panama. However, the record from Panama is doubtful. Recent studies have extended the range by about 2,400 km southwards, when specimens were found in the National Park Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil.^[2]