Sampling a biodiversity hotspot: the orchid-bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of Tarapoto, northeastern Peru, the richest and most diverse site of the Neotropics.

The orchid-bee fauna of the region of Tarapoto, northeastern Peru, was surveyed using seventeen different scents as baits to attract orchid-bee males. Six hundred and fifty-nine males belonging to 41 species were actively collected with insect nets during 120 hours in late July and early August, 2012. Euglossa dressleri Moure, 1968, Euglossa laurensi Bembé, 2008, and Euglossa maculilabris Moure, 1968, three species belonging to the Euglossa cybelia species-group, are here reported for Peru for the first time. Previous sporadic and unpublished samplings in the area recorded eleven additional species. With 53 species, the region of Tarapoto can be considered the richest single site in the Neotropics for orchid bees. Diversity, estimated with the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H' = 3.02), was also the highest ever recorded for orchid bees.