Megachile (Neochelynia)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Neochelynia Schrottky, 1920
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Neochelynia) are slender, elongate bees with black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
and often have white apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
hair bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
on 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
. They range in body length from 6.5–10 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.; 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.)

• Forewing with upper margin often conspicuously darkened.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  four-toothed with upper tooth rounded or truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  .
• Female scutumscutum:
  the large segment on top of the thorax located between the wings and behind the head
  has distinctly separated punctures.
• Female 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
  without apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  hair bandsbands:
  usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
  beneath 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 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
  with few or no erect hairs in profile.
• Male abdomen is elongate and tapered.
• Male F1 is shorter than the pedicelpedicel:
  the second segment of the antennae, between the scape and flagellum
  .
• Male front coxal spine absent, or short, and inconspicuous if present.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  four-toothed.
• 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 bidentatebidentate:
  having two teeth
  or bilobed.

May be confused with

Megachile (Neochelynia) may be confused with bees within the subgenus Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) in their general appearance (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Megachile (Neochelynia) females can be differentiated from Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) by the lack of erect hairs on 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
and by the four-toothed mandibles in both sexes (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 (Neochelynia) are known to visit flowers of Lamiaceae and Fabaceae (Aluri et al. 1997Aluri et al. 1997:
Aluri, J.S.R., M.I. Vergara-Santana, and S.L. Juarez. 1997. Floral ecology, carinal-lobe release, pollination and reproductive success in the wild and domesticated forms of Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit. (Lamiaceae) in Mexico. Plant Species Biology 12: 61-68.; Frankie et al. 1997Frankie et al. 1997:
Frankie, G.W., S.B. Vinson, M.A. Rizzardi, T.L. Griswold, S. O#39;Keefe, and R.R. Snelling. 1997. Diversity and abundance of bees visiting a mass flowering tree species in disturbed seasonal dry forest, Costa Rica. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society: 281-296.).

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Megachile (Neochelynia) consists of 16 species (Moure et al. 2020Moure et al. 2020:
Moure, J.S., G.A.R. Melo, and A. DalMolin. 2020. Megachilini Latreille, 1802. In Moure, J.S., D. Urban, and G.A.R. Melo. Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical Region - online version. http://www.moure.cria.org.br/catalogue. Accessed Aug/19/2020.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Neochelynia) are found in North and South America. They range from the southwestern U.S. to Paraguay and Brazil (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Rasmussen et al 2009).

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

References

Aluri, J.S.R., M.I. Vergara-Santana, and S.L. Juarez. 1997. Floral ecology, carinal-lobe release, pollination and reproductive success in the wild and domesticated forms of Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit. (Lamiaceae) in Mexico. Plant Species Biology 12: 61-68.

Frankie, G.W., S.B. Vinson, M.A. Rizzardi, T.L. Griswold, S. O'Keefe, and R.R. Snelling. 1997. Diversity and abundance of bees visiting a mass flowering tree species in disturbed seasonal dry forest, Costa Rica. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society: 281-296.

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.

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

Moure, J.S., G.A.R. Melo, and A. DalMolin. 2020. Megachilini Latreille, 1802. In Moure, J.S., D. Urban, and G.A.R. Melo. Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the NeotropicalNeotropical:
biogeographic region that includes South and Central America, the Caribbean Islands, southern Florida, and the southern Mexican lowlands
Region - online version. http://www.moure.cria.org.br/catalogue. Accessed Aug/19/2020.

Rasmussen, C., B.R. Garcete-Barrett, and R.B. Goncalves. 2009. Curt Schrottky (1874–1937): South American entomology at the beginning of the 20th century (Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera). Zootaxa 2282(1): 1-50.