Megachile (Ptilosaroides)

Taxonomy

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

Overview

Megachile (Ptilosaroides) are bees with yellow wing bases, dusky costal margins on the forewings, and short, abundant, yellow hairs. They range in body length from 8–9 mm (Michener 2007).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 2007; Gonzalez 2008)

Female without a strong preoccipital carina behind the gena.
Female thorax and abdomen are densely and minutely punctate with sub-erect tomentum.
Male front coxa with a spine.
Male front tarsi are slender and black.
Male mandible is four-toothed.
Male S6 with two spines.
Male T6 preapical carina with two spines.

May be confused with

Megachile (Ptilosaroides) may be confused with bees within the subgenera Megachile (Ptilosarus) as they have similar wing coloration and both have short, abundant yellow hairs (Michener 2007). Males can be differentiated from Megachile (Ptilosarus) by the presence of a spine on the front coxa; females can be differentiated by the absence of both the strong preoccipital carina and the specialized hairs on the ventral surface of the thorax (Michener 2007; Raw 2007; Gonzalez 2008).

Host associations

Megachile (Ptilosaroides) have been observed visiting flowers of Fabaceae and Lamiaceae (Drumond and Cardoso 2003; Muniz et al. 2013).

Nesting behavior

Megachile (Ptilosaroides) nests in crevices, soil cracks, sand banks, termite burrows, and the abandoned nests of solitary bees, specifically Ptilothrix plumata and Diadasina distincta (Raw 2007; Gonzalez 2008). Nest cells are comprised of flower petals (Raw 2007).