genes” and better survival and foraging skills. Females have large ranges in which they forage and these may contain a number of different male territories, some solitary and others in loose groups. A female attracted to a territory circles around with the male before landing on the perch tree, often taking off and settling several times. The female entering the territory initially appears to be similar to an intruding male. The female E. meriana flies in small circles with the male, and the mating process begins when the male successfully lands on the female's back with mating lasting around 5 minutes. After mating, the females leave immediately. Matings have only been observed when no other males were present. It is not entirely apparent how a male's collected and stored fragrances may facilitate the breeding process. Further research about these chemical stimuli is still needed, as the exact context in which these behaviors are evoked could depend on many environmental factors. Mimicry Large bees of the genus Eulaema are found frequently in moderately wet lowland forests of tropical America and show red, yellow, and black colors. E. meriana females sting quite painfully, so the males could be considered to be Batesian mimics to females. Several asilid flies also mimic some of the color patterns found in Eulaema. The most striking mimicry in the Amazon basin and Guiana highlands are the Eufriesea ornate and the Eufriesea limbata who have similar tergum patterns and colors to the E. meriana. E. meriana have also been observed to have slightly different patterns depending the region it is found in. For example, in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, E. meriana show a “flavescens” pattern, without red or brown, and having pale yellow or almost white bands on the terga. E. bombiformis, E. meriana, and E. seabrai form part of a Müllerian mimetic complex in the Amazon basin and are very similar and make distinguishing between them difficult. However, in eastern Brazil near the coast, these three species are easily distinguished. One can see that these three species show different mimetic patterns in different geographic areas – sometimes between two species independent of the third, and sometimes involving all three. Robert L. Dressler, an expert on orchids, hypothesizes that these bee patterns have their origin in the Pleistocene geography of America. He suggests that the original isolation that led to speciation of E. meriana and E. bombiformis