Megachile (Eurymella)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Eurymella Pasteels, 1965
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Eurymella) are robust bees with a body length between 12–22mm long. They often have black or sometimes reddish-brown integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
, with black, red, brown, yellow, or white hair (Schulten 1977Schulten 1977:
Schulten, G.G.M. 1977. Megachilidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) from Malaŵi (Central Africa). The genera Creightonella, Megachile (s. str.) and Chalicodoma . Beaufortia 26(331): 43-76.; Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Megachile (Eurymella), previously synonymized with Megachile (Eutricharaea), was reestablished as a subgenus by Trunz et al. (2016).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Gonzalez et al. 2010Gonzalez et al. 2010:
Gonzalez, V.H., M.S. Engel, and I.A. Hinojosa-Diacute;az. 2010. A new species of Megachile from Pakistan, with taxonomic notes on the subgenus Eutricharaea (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 83: 58-67.; Praz 2017Praz 2017:
Praz, C.J. 2017. Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western Palearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 1-54.)

• Female tarsal claws usually with one elongate setaesetae:
  a still hair-like structure or bristle
  and one that is less then half the length of the first.
• Female hind basitarsusbasitarsus:
  the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
  is less tha three times longer than the width.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  with four teeth, the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  tooth being distinctly larger than subsequent teeth.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  third interspace with a long, complete cutting edge.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  without a tuft of orange hair at the base or the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  tooth.
• Male front basitarsibasitarsi:
  the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
  may be expanded or not.
• Male S4S4:
  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
  depressed and at least somewhat hyalinehyaline:
  transparent, glassy
  apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .
• 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
  apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin with sublateral teeth present.

May be confused with

Megachile (Eurymella) is likely to be confused with Megachile (Eutricharaea) as both have a robust mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
with an enlarged apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
tooth (Praz 2017Praz 2017:
Praz, C.J. 2017. Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western Palearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 1-54.). Megachile (Eurymella) can be differentiated by their broader hind basitarsusbasitarsus:
the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
when compared to Megachile (Eutricharaea) (Praz 2017Praz 2017:
Praz, C.J. 2017. Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western Palearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 1-54.).

Host associations

Megachile (Eurymella) have been observed visiting flowers of Apocynaceae, Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Brassicaceae, Melastomataceae, Myrtaceae, Poaceae, Papilionaceae, and Zygophyllaceae (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.; Gess and Roosenschoon 2017Gess and Roosenschoon 2017:
Gess, S.K. and P.A. Roosenschoon. 2017. Notes on the nesting of three species of Megachilinae in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, UAE. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 54: 43ndash;56.).

Nesting behavior

Megachile (Eurymella) are ground-nesting bees which have been recorded nesting in sand and compacted earth, and have also been found in the banks of irrigation furrows (MacIvor and Moore 2013MacIvor and Moore 2013:
MacIvor, J.S. and A.E. Moore. 2013. Bees collect polyurethane and polyethylene plastics as novel nest materials. Ecosphere 4(12): 1-6.). Nest cells are constructed from cut leafs (Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.).

Diversity

Megachile (Eurymella) contains nearly 60 species; none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada (Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.; Trunz et al. 2016Trunz et al. 2016:
Trunz, V., L. Packer, J. Vieu, N. Arrigo, and C.J. Praz. 2016. Comprehensive phylogeny, biogeography and new classification of the diverse bee tribe Megachilini: Can we use DNA barcodes in phylogenies of large genera? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 103: 245ndash;259.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Eurymella) occur throughout Africa and in western Asia, where they are found from Cyprus through the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan (Praz 2017Praz 2017:
Praz, C.J. 2017. Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western Palearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 1-54.; Varnava et al. 2019Varnava et al. 2019:
Varnava, A. I., S. P. M. Roberts, D. Michez, J. S. Ascher, T. Petanidou, S. Dimitriou, J. Devalez, M. Pittara, and M. C. Stavrinides. 2019. The wild bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of the island of Cyprus. ZooKeys: 1-114.).

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

References

Gess, S.K. and P.A. Roosenschoon. 2017. Notes on the nesting of three species of Megachilinae in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, UAE. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 54: 43-56.

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., M.S. Engel, and I.A. Hinojosa-Díaz. 2010. A new species of Megachile from Pakistan, with taxonomic notes on the subgenus Eutricharaea (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 83: 58-67.

MacIvor, J.S. and A.E. Moore. 2013. Bees collect polyurethane and polyethylene plastics as novel nest materials. Ecosphere 4(12): 1-6.

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

Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Révision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) de l’Afrique Noire, 1. Les genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Annales Série 8, Sciences Zoologiques 137, Tervuren, Belgium. 579 pp.

Praz, C.J. 2017. Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western PalearcticPalearctic:
the largest biogeographic region; consists of Europe, Asia north of the Himalaya foothills, Northern Africa, and the northern and central parts of the Arabian Peninsula
(Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 55: 1-54.

Schulten, G.G.M. 1977. Megachilidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) from Malaŵi (Central Africa). The genera Creightonella, Megachile (s. str.) and Chalicodoma. Beaufortia 26(331): 43-76.

Trunz, V., L. Packer, J. Vieu, N. Arrigo, and C.J. Praz. 2016. Comprehensive phylogeny, biogeography, and new classification of the diverse bee tribe Megachilini: Can we use DNA barcodes in phylogenies of large genera? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 103: 245-259.

Varnava, A. I., S. P. M. Roberts, D. Michez, J. S. Ascher, T. Petanidou, S. Dimitriou, J. Devalez, M. Pittara, and M. C. Stavrinides. 2019. The wild bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of the island of Cyprus. ZooKeys: 1-114.