Bees (Apoidea: Anthophila) form a monophyletic group of at least 100 Myrs old including today approximately 19667 described species (Ascher, J. S. & J. Pickering. 2010). Due to their strong relationship with flowering plants they play a crucial role for most terrestrial ecosystems providing pollination services for a big number of angiosperms. 

The European fauna includes 2,138 bee species across 77 genera (Ghisbain et al., 2023), most of which are found in the xeric ecosystems of the Mediterranean region. 

The number of bee species recorded in the Romanian fauna over a period of 150 years is around 760 species. Due to the Romania’s position at the confluence between pannonic, continental, alpine, steppe and pontic (around the Black Sea) biogeographical regions (EEA, 2001) fauna include species with various origins and distribution. Thus, the Romanian bee fauna must presumably be rich and divers and the presence of more species cannot be excluded mostly from the south of the country.