Neglectella

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Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Neglectella Pasteels, 1965
Common name: none

Overview

Neglectella are large bees, often with black integument on their head, thorax, and abdomen and brown or reddish integument on their antennae, mandibles, legs, and tegula (Pasteels 1965). The color of their pubescence varies greatly, with different combinations of white, yellow, red, brown, and black hair (Pasteels 1965). Their body length ranges from 12–19 mm (Pasteels 1965). Neglectella was previously synonymized with Pseudomegachile, but was raised to genus level by Gonzalez et al. 2019.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Pasteels 1965)

• Preoccipital carina present laterally.
• Female clypeus with apical edge straight or weakly crenulate.
• Female mandible five-toothed without cutting edges.
• Male front tarsi can be either simple or distinctly expanded and excavated.
• Male mandible three-toothed, with or without a basal projection on the lower margin.
• Male T6 preapical carina may be dentate or not dentate with a median emargination.
• Male T6 with lateral teeth on the apical margin.
• Male front coxa with or without a spine.

May be confused with

Neglectella are very similar to the subgenus Pseudomegachile, with which they were previously synonymized (Michener 2007). They both are highly variable and can overlap in many different characters depending on the species. Male Neglectella differ in the presence of lateral teeth on the apical margin of T6. Female Neglectella can be differentiated from most Pseudomegachile by their five-toothed mandibles. Pseudomegachile louisae also has a five-toothed mandible, but they have a tuberculate supraclypeal area that is not present in Neglectella species (Eardley 2012).

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Neglectella nest within pre-existing cavities, and have been observed nesting in Acacia wood (Michener 1968). These bees construct their nests using resin and sand (Gess and Roosenschoon 2017).

Diversity

Neglectella consists of 11 species (Pasteels 1965; Trunz et al. 2016).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Neglectella have been found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, from Liberia to Sudan and south to South Africa (Cockerell 1937; Pasteels 1965; Eardley 2012).

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