Clade Anthophila The superfamily Apoidea is a major group (of over 30 000 species) within the Hymenoptera, which includes two traditionally recognized lineages, the "sphecoid" wasps, and the bees.

Molecular phylogeny demonstrates that the bees arose from within the traditional "Crabronidae", so that grouping is paraphyletic, and this has led to a reclassification to produce monophyletic families.

[1] Bees appear in recent classifications to be a specialized lineage of "crabronid" wasps that switched to the use of pollen and nectar as larval food, rather than insect prey; this makes the traditional "Crabronidae" a paraphyletic group.

[citation needed] As bees (not including their wasp ancestors) are still considered a monophyletic group, they are given a grouping between superfamily and family to unify all bees, Anthophila.

"[4][5] Ampulicidae (Cockroach wasps) Astatidae Bembicidae Sphecidae (sensu stricto) Crabronidae (sensu stricto) Mellinidae Pemphredonidae Philanthidae Psenidae Ammoplanidae Anthophila (bees)