Megachile (Chaetochile)

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Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Chaetochile Mitchell, 1980
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Chaetochile) are large bees with black integument covered in long, dense yellowish-white and black hair, and they have pale apical hair bands on their terga (Durante and Abrahamovich 2006). They range in body length from 10–14 mm (Durante and Abrahamovich 2006). Megachile (Chaetochile) was previously synonymized with Megachile (Dasymegachile), but was resurrected by Gonzalez et al. 2019.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Mitchell 1980; Durante and Abrahamovich 2006)

• Female clypeus with flat, erect, hooked hairs.
• Female mandible four-toothed, with the innermost tooth notched and with an incomplete cutting edge in the second interspace and a long cutting edge in the third.
• Female scopa black.
• Male antenna with F1 nearly equal in length to F2.
• Male mandible three-toothed, with the second tooth truncate, occasionally notched, and closer to the first tooth than the third.
• Male mandible without a basal process on the lower margin.
• Male front coxa without a tooth or projection.
• Male T6 with preapical carina emarginate medially and the area in front of the carina is distinctly depressed.
• Male T6 apical margin with two flat projections and lateral spines.

May be confused with

Megachile (Chaetochile) are most similar to M. (Dasymegachile) in their size and long dense hair. Female M. (Chaetochile) can be differentiated by their flat clypeus with erect, hooked hair. Male M. (Chaetochile) can be identified by their middle mandibular tooth, which is truncate or notched and closer to the first tooth. The teeth of M. (Dasymegachile) are acute and equidistant from each other (Mitchell 1980; Durante and Abrahamovich 2006).

Host associations

Megachile (Chaetochile) has been reported on Lathyrus macropus (Fabaceae) (Durante and Abrahamovich 2006).

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Megachile (Chaetochile) includes a single species, Megachile schwimmeri (Durante and Abrahamovich 2006; Engel 2017).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Chaetochile) are known from Argentina, Brazil, and Peru (Durante and Abrahamovich 2006).

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