Serapista

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Serapista Cockerell, 1904
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Serapista are large, robust bees with body lengths ranging from 9–15 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). They are black with abundant thick white hairs on their head, thorax, and forming incomplete bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
on their abdomen (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.). Both males and females have distinct spines along the laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
edges of 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
that can give their abdomen a serrated appearance (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diversity

Serapista contains 6 species (Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Eardley and Grisdwold 2016 unless otherwise stated)

• Axillae acutely pointed (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
  Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).
• Labrum labrum:
  part of the head abutting the clypeus, folds down in front of the mouthparts
  with basally directed spike in the middle.
• Preoccipital carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  absent (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
  Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).
• T1 with raised carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  between anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  and dorsaldorsal:
  in general, the upper surface
  surfaces.
• Thorax and abdomen with numerous white squamosesquamose:
  covered with minute scales
  hairs.
• Female 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
  (T2–T5) with laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  spines.
• Female mandibles with seven teeth.
• Male (T2–T6) with laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  spines.
• Male mandibles with three teeth.

May be confused with

The incomplete, white, squamosesquamose:
covered with minute scales
hair bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
and laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
spines along 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
make this bee difficult to confuse with other Anthidiini (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Plant materials have been collected from Asteraceae and species of Lebeckia, Hermannia, Crotalaria, and Indigofera (Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.).

Nesting behavior

Known nesting habits of Serapista are diverse. Nests have been built on Fabaceae (Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.). Serapista denticulata makes nests out of plant down sometimes from Asteraceae, that may be mixed with animal hairs or feathers (Michener 1968Michener 1968:
Michener, C.D. 1968. Nests of some African megachilid bees, with description of a new Hoplitis (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Journal of the Society of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 31: 337ndash;359.; Gess and Gess 2007Gess and Gess 2007:
Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiine) in southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 30ndash;50.). Serapista friesei has been observed building exposed nests with plant down and mammal fur on shrubs (Gess and Gess 2007Gess and Gess 2007:
Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiine) in southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 30ndash;50.; Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.). Both species have been known to make exposed aerial nests on the stems of plants (Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.). In addition to making aerial nests, S. rufipes has also been found building nests from plant fibers in preexisting burrows in the ground (Gess and Gess 2007Gess and Gess 2007:
Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiine) in southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 30ndash;50.; Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.).

Distribution

Serapista are known only from sub-Saharan Africa, where they occur from Cameroon to Tanzania to South Africa (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Eardley and Griswold 2016Eardley and Griswold 2016:
Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334ndash;364.).

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References

Eardley, C. and T. Griswold. 2016. Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111:334-364.
 
Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some Anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini) in Southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16:30-50.
 
Michener, C.D. 1968. Nests of some African megachilid bees, with description of a new Hoplitis (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Journal of the Entomological Society of southern Africa 31:337-359.
 
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. 2nd. Ed. Johns Hopkins, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.