Pseudoheriades

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Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Pseudoheriades Peters, 1970
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Pseudoheriades are slender bees with black integument and white hair bands on their terga. Pseudoheriades often have coarse punctations on their head, thorax, and abdomen. They range in body length from 4.0–8.5 mm (Michener 2007).

Diversity

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 2007)

• Clypeus without longitudinal median carina (Fig 4).
• Metapleuron with a shiny, shelf-like projection.
• Preoccipital carina present.
• Proboscis short, scarcely exceeding fossa.
• Propodeum without carina posterior to spiracle.
• T1 with a carina separating anterior and dorsal surfaces.
• Female S1 with long, slender spine.
• Male S3 with median apical spine (Fig 6).

May be confused with

Pseudoheriades may be confused with Heriades due to similar black, slender, and coarsely punctate bodies. Pseudoheriades differs in that the carina of the propodeum does not extend behind the propodeal spiracle. Pseudoheriades can also be differentiated by the presence of a distinct spine on S1 of the males and median spine on S3 of the females (Michener 2007).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

The nesting habits of Pseudoheriades are largely unknown. Pseudoheriades grandiceps has been recovered nesting in preexisting cavities in wood with cell linings made of leaves or flower petals and cell partitions made from resin (Rozen and Praz 2016; Gess and Roosenschoon 2017). It most likely used an older megachilid nest which had been lined previously. Pseudoheriades moricei makes cell partitions and nest plugs, which seal the nest, out of resin, sometimes with small pebbles, and it does not line cells (Krombein 1969; Gess and Roosenschoon 2017).

Distribution

Pseudoheriades occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and India (Michener 2007).

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