The family Meganomiidae is a very small bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

 family, with 10 species in 4 genera, found primarily in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, primarily in xeric habitats, with the distributional limits in Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

 and Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. Historically, they have been considered a subfamily within the family Melittidae

Melittidae

The family Melittidae is a small bee family, with some 60 species in 4 genera, restricted to Africa and the northern temperate zone. Historically, the family has included the Dasypodaidae and Meganomiidae as subfamilies, but recent molecular studies indicate that Melittidae was paraphyletic, so...

, but recent molecular studies indicate that Meganomiids are their sister taxon..

They are rather different in appearance from the other groups of past/present Melittids, being large bees (10-22 mm), mostly black with strong yellow markings, resembling anthidiine megachilids

Megachilidae

The Megachilidae are a cosmopolitan family of solitary bees whose pollen-carrying structure is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen...

.