Cesacongoa

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Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Cesacongoa Kocak and Kemal, 2010
Common name: none

Overview

The single species in this genus, Cesacongoa quadraticauda, has black integument with black hair on the head and thorax and an abdomen covered in dense orange-red hair. Their body length is approximately 16 mm (Michener 2007). Cesacongoa was synonymized with Megachile (Cuspidella) in 2016 and then elevated from a Megachile subgenus to genus status in 2019 (Trunz et al. 2016; Gonzalez et al. 2019).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Gonzalez 2008)

• Female clypeus is strongly depressed, and the apical margin is broad and deeply emarginate.
• Female mandible three-toothed with a very broad lower tooth.
• Male T6 apical margin with strong lateral spine.
• Male T6 preapical carina produced medially to a truncate process.

May be confused with

Cesacongoa may be confused with Pseudomegachile because they both have shiny ridges on their mandibles in females and a large spine on the apical margin of T6 in males (Gonzalez 2008). Cesacongoa can be differentiated from Pseudomegachile by the broadly emarginate female clypeus and truncate median process on the preapical carina of T6 in males (Gonzalez 2008).

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Cesacongoa is monotypic, consisting of one species: C. quadraticauda, which is not known to occur in the U.S. (Gonzalez 2008; Gonzalez and Engel 2012).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Cesacongoa occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Gonzalez and Engel 2012).

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