Xeroheriades

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Xeroheriades Griswold, 1986
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Xeroheriades is a slender bee with dense white hairs on the thorax, a distinct rusty-red abdomen, and white hairs on the marginal bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
. They range in body length from 4.5–7 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diversity

Xeroheriades contains one species, X. micheneri, which is restricted to the U.S. (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Griswold 1986bGriswold 1986b:
Griswold, T.L. 1986. A new heriadine bee from the Mojave Desert. The Southwestern Entomologist 11: 165ndash;169. unless otherwise stated)

• Arolia present (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
  Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).
• Omaulus omaulus:
  angle between anterior and lateral surfaces of mesepisternum
  rounded.
• Preoccipital margin rounded.
• Pronotal lobes rounded.
• Terga terga:
  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
  1–3 medially incurved.
• T1 with anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  face convexconvex:
  curved outward
  .
• T1 without raised carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  separating the anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  and dorsaldorsal:
  in general, the upper surface
  surfaces.
• Female S1S1:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  with distinctive bilobed elongate process.
• Female S6S6:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  with raised preapicalpreapical:
  referring to a section of a bee that is physically found just before the outermost (or apical) end of the section or segment
  carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  and distinct apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  spike.
• Male S5S5:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  with deep apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  notch.

May be confused with

Both Heriades and Chelostoma have similar slim profiles to Xeroheriades, but neither of them possesses the reddish abdominal coloration of Xeroheriades (Griswold 1986bGriswold 1986b:
Griswold, T.L. 1986. A new heriadine bee from the Mojave Desert. The Southwestern Entomologist 11: 165ndash;169.), and both have simple sternasterna:
the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
in the female without the modifications to S1S1:
the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
and S6S6:
the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Distribution

Xeroheriades micheneri is found in isolated mountainous areas of the eastern and southern Mojave Desert in southern California (Griswold 1986Griswold 1986:
Griswold, T. 1986. Notes on the nesting biology of Protosmia ( Chelostomopsis ) rubifloris (Cockerell) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 62: 84ndash;87.; Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

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

References

Griswold, T.L. 1986. A new heriadine bee from the Mojave Desert. The Southwestern Entomologist 11:165-169.
 
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.