Taxonomy
Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Pseudoanthidium, Friese 1898
Subgenus: Pseudoanthidium, Friese 1898
Species: Pseudoanthidium ochrognathum (Alfken, 1932)
Background
Pseudoanthidium ochrognathum are small, 6-8 mm bees. They have predominantly black
integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
with small, symmetrical yellow spots on their
tergaterga:
the segments on the top side of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, or T7
, the size of the yellow portions varies within the species. Their legs are mostly yellow and may be brown at the base. They have a thin coat of white
pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
that covers most of their bodies.
Distribution
Pseudoanthidium ochrognathum is known from Egypt, South Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Palestine (
Warncke 1980Warncke 1980:
Warncke, K. 1980. Die Bienengattung Anthidium Fabricius, 1804 in der Westpalaarktis und im turkestanischen Becken. Entomofauna 1: 119ndash;210.;
Elshaier 2022Elshaier 2022:
Elshaier, M. E. 2022. Taxonomy of Egyptian members of wool carder bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini) based on morphological variations. International Journal, 1(1), 1-10.;
Grace 2010Grace 2010:
Grace, A. 2010. Introductory biogeography to bees of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. Bexhill Museum, Sussex, United Kingdom.).
Host associations
Pseudoanthidium ochrognathum has been recorded visiting the Amaranthaceae species
Aerva javanica and the Boraginaceae species
Heliotropium kotschyi and
Moltkiopsis ciliata (
Gess and Roosenschoon 2016Gess and Roosenschoon 2016:
Gess, S.K. and P.A. Roosenschoon. 2016. A preliminary survey of flower visiting by aculeate wasps and bees in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, UAE. Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 52: 81ndash;141.).
Nesting behavior
Little is known about the nesting biology of
Pseudoanthidium ochrognathum but most species of
Pseudoanthidium nest in pre-existing cavities like in wood, stems, galls or crevices (
Litman et al. 2021Litman et al. 2021:
Litman, J. R., Fateryga, A. V., Griswold, T. L., Aubert, M., Proshchalykin, M. Y., Le Divelec, R., Burrows, S. & Praz, C. J. 2022. Paraphyly and low levels of genetic divergence in morphologically distinct taxa: revision of the Pseudoanthidium scapulare complex of carder bees (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Anthidiini). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 195(4): 1287-1337.).
Known invasives
There are no known invasives.
