Megachile (Paracella)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Paracella Tkalcu, 1993
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Paracella) are relatively small bees with black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
, apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
bands of white hair on the 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
, and white to white-yellow 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
(Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; 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.). Their body length can vary from 9–13 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.)

• Preoccipital carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  present laterally.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  is four-toothed with the upper tooth either truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  or 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
  , sometimes giving the appearance of five teeth.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  second and third interspaces have cutting edges that can be complete or incomplete. Also, there is a tuft of orange hairs near the apexapex:
  end of any structure
  of the outer acetabular groove.
• 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
  with apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  bands of hair 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
  in most species, although this is sometimes absent.
• Male front coxacoxa:
  the basal segment of the leg
  has a short tooth or projection.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  is four-toothed and lacks an inferior projection.
• Male front tarsustarsus:
  the group of segments at the end of the leg following the tibia
  is not greatly expanded although it is often pale.
• 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 can vary from having four teeth to none.

May be confused with

Megachile (Paracella) may be confused with bees within the subgenus Megachile (Eutricharaea) because females of both subgenera often have apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
bands of hair 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
on the 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
, four-toothed mandibles with an orange tuft of hair near the first tooth, and males are similar color and size and have a short tooth or projection on the front coxacoxa:
the basal segment of the leg
(Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Female Megachile (Paracella) can be separated from Megachile (Eutricharaea) by the cutting edges in the second and third interspaces; males can be separated by their four-toothed mandibles and the lack of a basalbasal:
originating at the foundation of a structure
projection on the lower margin of the mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
(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 (Paracella) have been observed visiting Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Hydrangeaceae, Lamiaceae, Lythraceae, and Poaceae (Kakutani et al. 1990Kakutani et al. 1990:
Kakutani, T., T. Inoue, M. Kato, and H. Ichihashi. 1990. Insect-flower relationship in the campus of Kyoto University, Kyoto: an overview of the flowering phenology and the seasonal pattern of insect visits. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University 27: 465-522.; 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.; Stanley et al. 2016Stanley et al. 2016:
Stanley, D., M. Otieno, K. Syeijven, E.S. Berlin, T. Piironen, P. Willmer, and C. Nuttman. 2016. Pollination ecology of Desmodium setigerum (Fabaceae) in Uganda; do big bees do it better? Journal of Pollination Ecology 19(7): 43-49.; Wong 2018Wong 2018:
Wong, S.A.A. 2018. Diverse adaptations to increase pollination success in zoophilous plants. Kyoto University PhD dissertation. 83 pp.).

Nesting behavior

Megachile (Paracella) construct nests in pre-existing cavities between rocks or in burrows in the soil. Nest cells are comprised of leaf fragments and layers of petals (Ferton 1920Ferton 1920:
Ferton, C. 1920. Notes détachées sur lrsquo;instinct des hymeacute;noptegrave;res Mellifegrave;res et ravisseurs (9ème série) avec la description de deux espegrave;ces nouvelles. Annales de la Socieacute;teacute;́ Entomologique de France 89: 329ndash;375.).

Diversity

Megachile (Paracella) consists of 45 described species (Ascher and Pickering 2020Ascher and Pickering 2020:
Ascher, J.S. and J. Pickering. 2020. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=Carinulaamp;name=Megachileamp;flags=subgenus :); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Paracella) are found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, but some species can also be found in the Mediterranean and eastern Asia from India to Indonesia (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

Ascher, J.S. and J. Pickering. 2020. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=Paracella&name=Megachile&flags=subgenus:

Ferton, C. 1920. Notes détachées sur l’instinct des hyménoptères Mellifères et ravisseurs (9ème série) avec la description de deux espèces nouvelles. Annales de la Société́ Entomologique de France 89: 329–375.

Gikungu, M.W. 2006. Bee diversity and some aspects of their ecological interactions with plants in a successional tropical community. Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn PhD dissertation. 193 pp.

Kakutani, T., T. Inoue, M. Kato, and H. Ichihashi. 1990. Insect-flower relationship in the campus of Kyoto University, Kyoto: an overview of the flowering phenology and the seasonal pattern of insect visits. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University 27(4): 465-522.

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

Stanley, D., M. Otieno, K. Syeijven, E.S. Berlin, T. Piironen, P. Willmer, and C. Nuttman. 2016. Pollination ecology of Desmodium setigerum (Fabaceae) in Uganda; do big bees do it better? Journal of Pollination Ecology 19(7): 43-49.

Wong, S.A.A. 2018. Diverse adaptations to increase pollination success in zoophilous plants. Kyoto University PhD dissertation. 83 pp.