Palaeocene origin of theNeotropical lineage of cleptoparasitic beesEricrocidini‐Rhathymini (Hymenoptera,Apidae)

Cleptoparasitic bees abandoned pollen‐collecting for their offspring and lay their eggs in other bees' provisioned nests. Also known as cuckoo bees, they belong to several lineages, but are especially diverse in Apinae. We focused on a lineage of apine cleptoparasitic bees, the clade Ericrocidini + Rhathymini, which attack nests of oil‐collecting bees. We sequenced five genes for 20 species in all genera of this clade plus a large outgroup to...