Comparative Biogeography of Native Apoidea of New Zealand and New Caledonia

Native Australian Apoidea belong to six families with about 3000 species. In contrast the native New Zealand (NZ) Apoidea consists of 2 families, 4 genera and about 40 species, and that of New Caledonia (NC) of 3 families, 10 genera and 28 species. The sub-family Euryglossinae is newly recorded from NC. New Zealand's bee fauna is dominated by the Colletidae with about 36 species, while Halictidae are represented by 4 species. New Caledonia has 15 species of Halictidae but only 5 species of Colletidae. Megachilidae are absent from NZ but are represented by 8 species in NC, and their origin is probably from the north.The closet relatives of the NZ and NC Colletidae and Halictidae are Australian. Relationships within the bee fauna of NZ and NC suggest that the two faunas were derived from a few immigrations from Australia followed by speciation, rather than representing a vicariant event which would have resulted in distinct apomorphy in each region.The differential radiation of the Colletidae and Halictidae in NZ and NC probably reflects the interactions between the different biologies of the 2 bee families, and the markedly divergent geomorphology, soil structure, climate and floral phenology of the two areas.