The family Fideliidae contains but three genera, Fidelia and Parafidelia from the xeric regions of southern Africa and Neofidelia from the southern part of the Atacama Desert in Chile. Hoping to obtain new information on the phylogeny and systematic placement of fideliine bees, I undertook two field trips, one to the Republic of South Africa and to South-West Africa in 1968 and the other to Chile in 1969. The results of these trips, presented here, represent the first account of the life history, larva, and pupa of fideliine bees. The description of a new Neofidelia, the second species for the genus, is appended.