Wing grooming in bees (Apoidea) and the evolution of wing grooming in insects

The behavior of wing cleaning is qualitatively uniform within the superfamily of the bees (Apoidea). Bees exhibit seven distinct wing cleaning movements, including unilateral scraping of all four wing surfaces by the ipsilateral hind leg. Wing cleaning in the Sphecidae is more diverse than that of the bees; one finds unilateral and bilateral scraping of the wings in this family. The basic wing-cleaning pattern of the Hymenoptera became established within the Symphyta, the Tenthredinidae being more primitive and the Cephidae being intermediate between the former and the Apocrita. Among the Pterygota, Paleoptera clean their wings with the abdomen (if at all), some primitive Neoptera also still do so. The typical wing cleaning movement of the Neoptera is scraping with the hind leg, a behavior which is considered homologous to a stepping movement in the context of locomotion.