Endemic to southern Africa, the wasp-like bees of this genus are generally small, varying from 3.9 to 9 mm (0.15 to 0.35 in) in length, and mostly black, with orange-ish or reddish colouring of the metasoma in some of the species.

[1][2][3] German entomologist Hans Bischoff first described the genus in 1923 in the work "Kenntnis afrikanischer Schmarotzerbienen", published in the Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift.

The lack of pollen-collecting scopae is an evolutionary loss of structure that is common to almost all cleptoparastic bees as they have no need to gather pollen, nor nests in which to store it.

Eggs are smaller than the size of the adult suggests, whitish, and long with a gentle curve, narrowing to a rounded point.

[3] In the second instar the forked abdominal tip remains but the mandibles are much reduced, and the body extends laterally, presumably a flotation aid as food stores become gradually liquefied in the cell.

After hatching, the first instar is active and predatory and kills with its mandibles any other eggs or larvae it finds inside the cell, including those of its siblings, if present.

Where a floral record has been made, based on limited observations of only two species, the plant genera noted are Grielum, Helichrysum, Senecio, and Hemimeris.