NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
European Bee-eater
Merops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Taken in Hungary. About 5 metres away with my 500 + 1.4x - I just managed to fit it in!
Andy Morffew from Itchen Abbas, Hampshire, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a bird species in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It has the largest range of any bee-eater species, breeding in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population, the species is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its usual range, with occasional breeding in northern Europe.
Wikipedia contributors, European bee-eater; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:09:17.180386+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Merops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758
- Name authority
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Common name
- European Bee-eater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Meropidae
- Genus
- Merops
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderCoraciiformes
- familyMeropidae
- genusMerops Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesMerops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Merops. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Rainbow Bee-eaterMerops ornatus Latham, 1801 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Blue-tailed Bee-eaterMerops philippinus Linnaeus, 1767 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Somali Bee-eaterMerops revoilii Oustalet, 1882 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Blue-breasted Bee-eaterMerops variegatus Vieillot, 1817 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black Bee-eaterMerops gularis Shaw, 1798 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African Green Bee-eaterMerops viridissimus Swainson, 1837 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-throated Bee-eaterMerops albicollis Vieillot, 1817 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Böhm's Bee-eaterMerops boehmi Reichenow, 1882 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-headed Bee-eaterMerops breweri (Cassin, 1859) | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-fronted Bee-eaterMerops bullockoides A. Smith, 1834 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Red-throated Bee-eaterMerops bulocki Vieillot, 1817 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Swallow-tailed Bee-eaterMerops hirundineus A. A. H. Lichtenstein, 1793 | MeropidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China)
Southern Asia
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554661 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3ZW55. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.