The Ctenoplectrini are a small (fewer than 30 species), aberrant group of apid bees with short tongues and modified scopa adapted to carry floral oils rather than pollen. These unusual modifications had led many early authors to place them in their own family, the Ctenoplectridae, as their relationships to other bees were obscured by their morphological anomalies. Recent analyses clearly indicate that they are a specialized offshoot within the subfamily Apinae.