Austrothurgus

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Lithurgini
Genus: Austrothurgus Gonzalez and Engel, 2013
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Austrothurgus are robust, black bees that range in body length from 10–15 mm (Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.). The head, thorax, and abdomen are generally black, and they have white to brown apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
bands of setaesetae:
a still hair-like structure or bristle
on the 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
. T6T6:
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
of females is covered with reddish-brown setaesetae:
a still hair-like structure or bristle
(Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.).

Diversity

Austrothurgus contains 3 species worldwide (Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.); none are known to occur in the U.S or Canada.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.)

• Abdomen with hair bandsbands:
  usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
  complete.
• First flagellomereflagellomere:
  any segment of the antenna past the scape and pedicel
  1.5 times longer than broad and nearly twice as broad as the second flagellomereflagellomere:
  any segment of the antenna past the scape and pedicel
  .
• Hind tibiatibia:
  the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  sculpturing coarsely tuberculate.
• Female aroliaarolia:
  the cushion-like pad between the tarsal claws found at the ends of some bees' legs
  absent.
• Female facial prominence mostly involving the base of the clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  .
• Male aroliaarolia:
  the cushion-like pad between the tarsal claws found at the ends of some bees' legs
  present on all tarsitarsi:
  the group of segments at the end of the leg following the tibia
  .
• Male with distinct carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  on inner surface of metabasitarsusmetabasitarsus:
  the basitarsi on the hind legs
  .

May be confused with

Austrothurgus looks like Lithurgus and Lithurgopsis, however, they can be distinguished from one another by the characteristics listed above (Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Distribution

Austrothurgus is endemic to Australia (Gonzalez et al. 2013Gonzalez et al. 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis . Journal of Melittology 11: 1ndash;19.).

Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

References

Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and T. Griswold. 2013. The Lithurgine bees of Australia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with a note on Megachile rotundipennis. Journal of Melittology 11: 1-19.