Nomadinae

{{Short description|Subfamily of bees}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Nomadinae

| image = Nomada fulvicornis01.jpg

| image_caption = Nomada fulvicornis

| authority = Latreille, 1802

| subdivision_ranks = Tribes

| subdivision = Ammobatini

Ammobatoidini

Brachynomadini

Caenoprosopidini

Epeolini

Hexepeolini

Neolarrini

Nomadini

}}

Nomadinae is a subfamily of bees in the family Apidae. They are known commonly as cuckoo bees.[https://www.uniprot.org/taxonomy/78169 Nomadinae.] UniProt.

This subfamily is entirely kleptoparasitic.Roig-Alsina, A. (1991). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25085241?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Cladistic analysis of the Nomadinae s. str. with description of a new genus (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae).] Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 64(1) 23-37. They occur worldwide, and use many different types of bees as hosts. As parasites, they lack a pollen-carrying scopa, and are often extraordinarily wasp-like in appearance. All known species share the behavioral trait of females entering host nests when the host is absent, and inserting their eggs into the wall of the host cell; the larval parasite emerges later, after the cell has been closed by the host female, and kills the host larva. The first-instar larvae of nomadines are specially adapted for this, and possess long mandibles they use to kill the host larva, though these mandibles are lost as soon as the larva molts to the second instar, at which point it simply feeds on the pollen/nectar provisions. A behavioral habit shared by adults of various genera with males of many other bee species, who also do not possess a nest to return to, is that they frequently rest while grasping onto plant stems or leaves with only their mandibles.

File:Ammobates muticus, u, italy, side 2014-11-01-19.18.28 ZS PMax (15817023301).jpg]]

File:Sphecodopsis sp, Sandveld, 2012.jpg sp. in South Africa]]

File:Epeolus lectoides, m, side, Dorchester Co, MD 2016-01-07-13.41 (24469747075).jpg]]