Anthidium (Nivanthidium)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Anthidium Fabricius, 1804
Subgenus: Nivanthidium Pasteels, 1969
Common name: none

Overview

Anthidium (Nivanthidium) are robust, shiny, black bees with limited markings on the abdomen (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Along the laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
margin of the abdomen, there are dense areas of white hairs. They range in body length from 9–14 mm (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 Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.)

• Scutellum scutellum:
  shield shaped plate behind scutum
  large and nearly flat in profile.
• Abdomen with dense areas of white hairs along the laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  margins.
• Axillar suturesuture:
  a groove marking the line of fusion of two distinct plates on the body or face of a bee
  weak.
• Pronotal lobe pronotal lobe:
  a part of the pronotum located dorsally on the posterior margin of the pronotum and overlaps the anterior thoracic spiracle
  carinatecarinate:
  having keels or carinae
  or lamellatelamellate:
  thin, plate-like, often somewhat translucent structure
  .
• Scuto-scutellar suturesuture:
  a groove marking the line of fusion of two distinct plates on the body or face of a bee
  shallow.
• Male T4T4:
  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
  to 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
  have strong laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  spines.
• Male T7T7:
  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
  bidentatebidentate:
  having two teeth
  , with long hairs in between the spines.

May be confused with

Anthidium (Nivanthidium) are superficially similar to bees within the genus Serapista because they are both large, robust black bees with dense white hairs on the abdomen (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). However, A. (Nivanthidium) can be differentiated from Serapista due to the weak axillar suturesuture:
a groove marking the line of fusion of two distinct plates on the body or face of a bee
, carinatecarinate:
having keels or carinae
pronotal lobe, and large, flat scutellumscutellum:
shield shaped plate behind scutum
(Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Anthidium (Nivanthidium) consists of one species, A. niveocinctum, which is not known to occur in the U.S. or Canada (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Anthidium (Nivanthidium) occur in eastern and southern Africa (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

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.