Bathanthidium

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Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Bathanthidium Mavromoustakis, 1953
Subgenera: Bathanthidium, Manthidium, Stenanthidiellum
Common name: none

Overview

Bathanthidium are small bees ranging in body length from 5.5–9 mm. Their coloration varies from all black to black with yellow medially broken bands on the terga (Michener 2007).

Diversity

Bathanthidium contains 13 species within 3 subgenera (Michener 2007; Ascher and Pickering 2016b); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 2007)

• Arolia is present.
• Fovea behind propodeal spiracle present and defined by carina.
• Hind tibia with inner surface convex.
• Juxtantennal carina absent.
• Mid tibia with only one apical spine.
• Omaular carina absent.
• Pronotal lobe is weakly carinate.
• Preoccipital ridge is not carinate.
• Scutellum is rounded or medially emarginated and distinctly overhanging metanotum.
• Scutoscutellar suture forms two distinct fovea.
• Subantennal suture straight.
• Female T6 with apical margin simple.
• Male T6 is simple, and T7 ranges from simple to trilobed.

May be confused with

Bathanthidium may be confused with Rhodanthidium and some Trachusa due to a number of shared characters; however, Bathanthidium can be differentiated from these genera by the presence of fovea behind the propodeal spiracle (these fovea can be small in the subgenus Manthidium (Michener 2007).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Bathanthidium has been observed visiting Lactuca sibirica, Sedum aizoon, and Lespedeza bicolor (Игнатенко 2012).

Nesting behavior

Bathanthidium have been observed creating nests out of resin in preexisting burrows in wood and plant stems (Romankova 1988).

Distribution

Bathanthidium is an Asiatic genus that occurs in China, Taiwan, Burma, Laos, eastern Siberia, and Korea (Michener 2007; Soh et al. 2016).

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