Megachile (Amegachile)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Amegachile Friese, 1909
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Amegachile) have black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
, sometimes with some reddish coloration, and a combination of tan, red, white, or black hair on their body (Wu 2005Wu 2005:
Wu, Y. 2005. A study on the genus Megachile Latreille from China with descriptions of fourteen new species (Apoidea, Megachilidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(1): 155-165.; Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). They range in body length from 9–20 mm (Wu 2005Wu 2005:
Wu, Y. 2005. A study on the genus Megachile Latreille from China with descriptions of fourteen new species (Apoidea, Megachilidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(1): 155-165.; 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.; Gonzalez 2008Gonzalez 2008:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.)

• Female abdomen lacks fringes under the scopascopa:
  modified hairs for carrying pollen; often branched and dense hairs on the hind-leg, or on the ventral surface of the abdomen in Megachilidae
  .
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin has a shallow emarginationemargination:
  a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
  that is slightly raised at its edges.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  is four-toothed with a fused third tooth and an acute fourth tooth.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  second interspace can appear to lack a cutting edge because the cutting edge is fused to the third tooth; this can cause the third tooth to appear truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  .
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  third interspace has a large and complete cutting edge.
• Male gonostylusgonostylus:
  the apical-most appendage of the male genitalia, which is usually quite hairy
  apexapex:
  end of any structure
  is simple or bilobed.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  has three to four teeth with an inferior basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  projection.
• Male penis valves are not distinctively enlarged basally.
• Male 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
  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
  is large, crenulatecrenulate:
  having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge
  , and medially emarginateemarginate:
  a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
  .
• Male 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
  has small laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  teeth on the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin.

May be confused with

Some Megachile (Amegachile) can be mistaken for Callomegachile due to similar coloration (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). However, female Callomegachile lack cutting edges between the teeth on their mandibles, which are present in Megachile (Amegachile) (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Unlike Megachile (Amegachile), Callomegachile males have laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
marginal hairs on S8S8:
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 their abdomen is at least twice as long as wide (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

Megachile (Amegachile) is known to visit flowers from the following plant families: Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Campanulaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Orchidaceae, Papilionaceae, Pedaliaceae, Proteaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Solanaceae (Karunaratne et al. 2005Karunaratne et al. 2005:
Karunaratne, W.A.I.P., J.P. Edirisinghe, and C.S. Gunatilleke. 2005. Floral relationships of bees in selected areas of Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science 34: 27-45.; Gikungu 2006Gikungu 2006:
Gikungu, M.W. 2006. Bee diversity and some aspects of their ecological interactions with plants in a successional tropical community. Apidologie 40(3): 355-366.; Ikudome and Yamane 2007Ikudome and Yamane 2007:
Ikudome, S. and S. Yamane. 2007. Ants, wasps and bees of Iwo Jima, Northern Ryukyus, Japan (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). Bulletin of the Institute of Minami-Kyushu Regional Science 23: 1-7.; Welsford and Johnson 2012Welsford and Johnson 2012:
Welsford, M.R. and S.D. Johnson. 2012. Solitary and social bees as pollinators of Wahlenbergia (Campanulaceae): single-visit effectiveness, overnight sheltering and responses to flower colour. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 6(1): 1-14.; Sugiura 2014Sugiura 2014:
Sugiura, N. 2014. Pollination and floral ecology of Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) at the northern border of the speciesrsquo; natural distribution. Journal of Plant Research 127(1): 131-139.; Batley 2019Batley 2019:
Batley, M. 2019. Megachilidae: Flower association records for Australian bee species in the family Megachilidae. Australian Museum [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7234328.v3).

Nesting behavior

Megachile (Amegachile) are known to use pieces of cut leaves to construct their nests in pre-existing cavities (Maeta et al. 1997Maeta et al. 1997:
Maeta, Y., T. Yamaguchi, M. Goubara, and K. Goukon. 1997. The unusual nest of a leaf-cutting bee, Megachile igniscopata Cockerell from the Iriomote Island, southernmost Japan (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). Insecta (昆蟲), 65(1): 1-6.; Sugiura 2014Sugiura 2014:
Sugiura, N. 2014. Pollination and floral ecology of Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) at the northern border of the speciesrsquo; natural distribution. Journal of Plant Research 127(1): 131-139.). They have been observed nesting in the old nests of ground-nesting wasps and the abandoned burrows of Stimpson's skink (Plestiodon stimpsonii), a small lizard (Maeta et al. 1997Maeta et al. 1997:
Maeta, Y., T. Yamaguchi, M. Goubara, and K. Goukon. 1997. The unusual nest of a leaf-cutting bee, Megachile igniscopata Cockerell from the Iriomote Island, southernmost Japan (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). Insecta (昆蟲), 65(1): 1-6.; Maeta et al. 2006Maeta et al. 2006:
Maeta Y., M.A. Hannan, and R. Miyanaga. 2006. Additional notes on the nesting habits of Megachile yaeyamaensis Yasumatsu et Hirashima (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) in Iriomote Island. New Entomologist 55:1ndash;8.; Sugiura 2014Sugiura 2014:
Sugiura, N. 2014. Pollination and floral ecology of Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) at the northern border of the speciesrsquo; natural distribution. Journal of Plant Research 127(1): 131-139.).

Diversity

Megachile (Amegachile) consists of thirty species (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Amegachile) occurs in Africa, Asia, and Australia. In Africa, they range throughout sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia to South Africa and Madagascar. They are found in East and Southeast Asia, where they range from India to Japan and south through Indonesia to Australia (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

Batley, M. 2019. Megachilidae: Flower association records for Australian bee species in the family Megachilidae. Australian Museum [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7234328.v3

Gikungu, M.W. 2006. Bee diversity and some aspects of their ecological interactions with plants in a successional tropical community. Apidologie 40(3): 355-366.

Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.

Ikudome, S. and S. Yamane. 2007. Ants, wasps and bees of Iwo Jima, Northern Ryukyus, Japan (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). Bulletin of the Institute of Minami-Kyushu Regional Science 23: 1-7.

Karunaratne, W.A.I.P., J.P. Edirisinghe, and C.S. Gunatilleke. 2005. Floral relationships of bees in selected areas of Sri Lanka. Ceylon Journal of Science 34: 27-45.

Maeta, Y., T. Yamaguchi, M. Goubara, and K. Goukon. 1997. The unusual nest of a leaf-cutting bee, Megachile igniscopata Cockerell from the Iriomote Island, southernmost Japan (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). Insecta (昆蟲), 65(1): 1-6.

Maeta Y., M.A. Hannan, and R. Miyanaga. 2006. Additional notes on the nesting habits of Megachile yaeyamaensis Yasumatsu et Hirashima (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) in Iriomote Island. New Entomologist 55:1–8.

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

Sugiura, N. 2014. Pollination and floral ecology of Arundina graminifolia (Orchidaceae) at the northern border of the species’ natural distribution. Journal of Plant Research 127(1): 131-139.

Welsford, M.R. and S.D. Johnson. 2012. Solitary and social bees as pollinators of Wahlenbergia (Campanulaceae): single-visit effectiveness, overnight sheltering and responses to flower colour. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 6(1): 1-14.

Wu, Y. 2005. A study on the genus Megachile Latreille from China with descriptions of fourteen new species (Apoidea, Megachilidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(1): 155-165.