Compared to other Paracolletini bees, the genus Eulonchopria presents an unusual geographic distribution. While most of the tribe is restricted to southern South America and Australia, Eulonchopria is the only element that reaches North and Central America. The females are oligoletic on mimosaceous plants (Acacia-like), apparently using their specialized sternal setae to scrape pollen from the inflorescences. Twelve species are recognized in an ongoing revision of the genus, and only half of them are formally named. The most basal lineage, an unnamed species from southeastern Brazil, lacks most of the distinct synapomorphies found in other Eulonchopria and perhaps should be placed in a monotypic genus. The next most basal species, E. simplicicrus, is the sister-group of two larger species group: (1) gaullei + limbella (plus three unnamed species), and (2) psaenythioides (plus two closely related undescribed species) + oaxacana + punctatissima. Considering that the putative sister groups (Halictanthrena and Hoplocolletes), as well as most species in Eulonchopria, are found mainly in wet forests, the occupation of dry habitats by the psaenythioides group and the two North American species should be considered a reversal to the condition exhibited by most Paracolletini. The presence of two species endemic to northern Neotropics and North America suggests that the extension of the range might have occurred before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.