Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Notanthidium Isensee, 1927
Subgenera: Allanthidium, Chrisanthidium, Notanthidium
Common name: none
Notanthidium are bees with partly or entirely black pubescence and black integument on their head, thorax, and abdomen, with yellow or cream-colored maculations on their abdomen, and often with reddish coloration on their head and legs. They range in length from 7.5–11.5 mm (Michener 2007).
(modified from Michener 2007)
Notanthidium may be confused with other dark, elongate Anthidiini, such as Aztecanthidium and Anthodioctes, due to a similar rounded, thick body patterned with yellow or white; however, they can be differentiated by the diagnostic characteristics listed above (Michener 2007).
There are no known invasives.
Notanthidium has been observed gathering pollen from flowers of Phacelia circinata, Quilaja saponaria, and Cereus (Rozen 2015).
Only three Notanthidium nests have been documented, each unique from one another (Rozen 2015). Two nests were made by N. (Notanthidium) steloides. One nest was made in a beetle gallery in a dry branch and consisted of several cells divided by resinous partitions (Claude-Joseph 1926). The other nest was found in a hollow piece of bamboo, and the cell partitions were made up of viscous matter from Gymnocladus pods (Claude-Joseph 1926). The most recently documented nest was made by N. (Allanthidium) bizonatum, and was made up of a resinous mass containing four cells and surrounding a thin Baccharis tola subsp. santelicis stem (Rozen 2015).
Notanthidium is known only from the western coast of South America in Peru, Chile, and Argentina (Michener 2007).
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