The family Stenotritidae is the smallest of all formally-recognized 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...

 families, with only 21 species in 2 genera, all of them restricted to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Historically, they were generally considered to belong in the family Colletidae

Colletidae

Colletidae is a family of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining...

, but it is presently considered that the stenotritids are their sister taxon, and deserving of family status. Of prime importance is that stenotritids have unmodified mouthparts, whereas colletids are separated from all other bees by having a bilobed glossa

Glossa

Glossa may refer to several things:*glossa , a Greek word meaning "tongue" or "language" and is used in several English words including gloss, glossary, glossitis, and others...

.

They are large, densely hairy, fast-flying bees, which make simple burrows in the ground and make firm, ovoid provision masses in cells lined with a waterproof secretion. The larvae do not spin cocoons.

Ctenocolletes

• Ctenocolletes albomarginatus Michener 1965
• Ctenocolletes centralis Houston, 1983
• Ctenocolletes fulvescens Houston 1983
• Ctenocolletes nicholsoni (Cockerell 1929)
• Ctenocolletes nigricans Houston, 1985
• Ctenocolletes ordensis Michener 1965
• Ctenocolletes rufescens Houston, 1983
• Ctenocolletes smaragdinus (Smith 1868)
• Ctenocolletes tigris Houston, 1983
• Ctenocolletes tricolor Houston, 1983

Stenotritus

• Stenotritus elegans Smith, 1853
• Stenotritus elegantior Cockerell, 1921
• Stenotritus ferricornis (Cockerell, 1916)
• Stenotritus greavesi (Rayment, 1930)
• Stenotritus murrayensis (Rayment 1935)
• Stenotritus nigrescens (Friese, 1924)
• Stenotritus nitidus (Smith, 1879)
• Stenotritus pubescens (Smith, 1868)
• Stenotritus rufocollaris (Cockerell, 1921)
• Stenotritus splendidus (Rayment, 1930)
• Stenotritus victoriae (Cockerell, 1906)