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''Euglossopteryx'' is an extinct genus of bee in the family Apidae known from a fossil found in North America. There is one described species in the genus, ''Euglossopteryx biesmeijeri''. ==History and classification== ''Euglossopteryx biesmeijeri'' was described from a solitary fossil, which is a compression-impression fossil preserved in layers of soft sedimentary rock.〔 Along with other well preserved insect fossils, the ''E. biesmeijeri'' specimen was collected from layers of the Middle Eocene Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation. The formation is a group of Late Paleocene to Late Eocene depositional basins in Wyoming and Utah. The Parachute Creek Member is a composed of oil shales from a shallow mountain lake that exists for around 20 million years. Study of the paleoflora preserved in the shales indicates the lake was around in elevation surrounded by a tropical to subtropical environment that had a distinct dry season. At the time of study, the holotype was part of the Division of Entomology (Paleoentomology) collections, University of Kansas Natural History Museum. It was first studied by an international team of researchers headed by Manuel Dehon of the University of Mons, Belgium, with the teams 2014 type description of the genus and species was published in the natural sciences journal ''PLOS One''. The genus name is a derived from a combination of the Euglossini type genus ''Euglossa'' combined with the Greek "pteryx" meaning ''wing''. This is a reference to the similarity between ''Euglossopteryx biesmeijeri'' and species of ''Euglossa''. The specific epithet ''biesmeijeri'' was coined as a patronym honoring the Belgian melittologist Jacobus Biesmeijer, who is a noted researcher of pollinator-plant interactions and pollinator declines.〔 The body and wing structuring indicate a relationship to members of the bee clade Corbiculata, which encompasses the living tribes Apini, Bombini, Euglossini, Meliponini and the extinct tribes Melikertini, Electrapini, and Electrobombini. The preserved pollen basket on the metatibia excluded placement of ''E. biesmeijeri'' into a cleptoparasitic Cuckoo bee genus. Within Corbiculata, Apini has a distinct wing marginal cell and Meliponini has very reduced wing venation, neither features seen in ''E. biesmeijeri''. The wing venation of the species is closest to that seen in Euglossini, however the metatibia is not highly expanded as seen in Euglossini. As such Dehon ''et al'' did not give any placement in the clade, leaving ''Euglossopteryx'' as Corbiculata ''incertae sedis''.〔 ''E. biesmeijeri'' is one of four bee species described by Dehon and team in the ''PLOS One'' article, the others being ''Andrena antoinei'', ''Bombus cerdanyensis'', and ''Protohabropoda pauli''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Euglossopteryx」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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