Funds are requested for two years to inventory the native (non- Apis) bee fauna of Mexico. Specimens will be pinned or layered in the field, shipped to a processing center for labeling, sorting, etc., and then sent to experts for identification. Data from specimens will be computerized after determination, and specimens will be deposited in major collections equally in the United States and in Mexico. Mexican scientists and students will be used in field work and some trained in bee systematics. Checklists, field guides, descriptions, and keys to the bees of Mexico will be produced and published in Spanish and/or in English. Other systematic and evolutionary work stimulated by this inventory will be completed and published at the convenience of various experts involved. The large and extraordinary bee fauna of Mexico will become well represented in collections available to scientists in ecology, plant biology, evolution, zoogeography and other disciplines. A well curated and determined collection of native bees will be established in Mexico and Mexican personnel will be trained to curate this collection and to make scientific use of it. This inventory will be of great scientific value to systematics, as well as being timely because of current destruction of natural habitats in Mexico and the recent introduction of the Africanized honey bee into Mexico.
