Xenofidelia

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Fideliinae
Tribe: Neofideliini
Genus: Xenofidelia Packer, 2017
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Xenofidelia have a primarily black thorax and head, but the legs and abdomen have extensive orange, yellow, and brown markings (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.). They have sparse pale pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
throughout their body. This genus is known from a single female specimen which has a body length of 8.2 mm (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.)

Diversity

Xenofidelia contains one species, X. colorada (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.

• Abdomen almost completely orange.
• Clypeus clypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with yellow markings.
• Forewing with three submarginal cellssubmarginal cells:
  one or more cells of the wing lying immediately behind the marginal cells
  .
• Labial palpus labial palpus:
  one of the pair of jointed, sensory structures carried on the labium of the mouth parts
  is short, and glossal rod is absent.
• Labrum labrum:
  part of the head abutting the clypeus, folds down in front of the mouthparts
  elongate, broadest at the base and tapering apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .
• Mandible mandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  bifidbifid:
  divided into two branches; forked
  , the subapicalsubapical:
  located just behind the apex of the segment or body part
  tooth being small and obtuse.
• Metabasitarsus metabasitarsus:
  the basitarsi on the hind legs
  dorsaldorsal:
  in general, the upper surface
  margin convexconvex:
  curved outward
  , parallel-sided, dull, and hairy throughout.
• Propodeal triangle is elongate dorsally and has little sculpturing.
• Pygidial plate pygidial plate:
  unusually flat area (a plate) surrounded by a ridge or line and sometimes sticking well off of the end of the bee; if present, found on the sixth upper abdominal segment in females, seventh in males
  present and extremely broad.
• Stigma stigma:
  a pigmented/ thickened spot on the costal margin of the forewing, usually at the end of the radius(Greek, stigma= mark)
  is more than twice as long as the prestigmaprestigma:
  the expansion of the venation at the confluence of the costal/subcostal and radial sector veins basal of the prostigma
  .

May be confused with

Xenofidelia looks most similar to Neofidelia and Fidelia because they are covered in pale hair, have wings with three submarginal cellssubmarginal cells:
one or more cells of the wing lying immediately behind the marginal cells
, and have a broad pygidial platepygidial plate:
unusually flat area (a plate) surrounded by a ridge or line and sometimes sticking well off of the end of the bee; if present, found on the sixth upper abdominal segment in females, seventh in males
(Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.). Xenofidelia can most easily be differentiated from these genera by the nearly entirely orange abdomen, the shape of the metabasitarsusmetabasitarsus:
the basitarsi on the hind legs
(described above), and the elongated propodealpropodeal:
the last segment of the thorax
triangle (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.). Xenofidelia also have a shorter labial palpuslabial palpus:
one of the pair of jointed, sensory structures carried on the labium of the mouth parts
and lack a glossal rod (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown. However, because Xenofidelia lacks a glossal rod, it is likely to visit flowers that have shallow nectaries (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.).

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior for Xenofidelia is unknown. It is likely that it’s nesting habits are similar to bees in the subfamily Fideliinae (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.). The other tribes in this subfamily are known to build unlined nests in very dry, sandy soils that are generally restricted to arid regions (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.).

Distribution

Xenofidelia is only known from northeastern Chile (Packer et al. 2017Packer et al. 2017:
Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473ndash;488.).

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

References

Packer, L., J. Litman, and C.J. Praz. 2017. Phylogenetic position of a remarkable new fideliine bee from northern Chile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Systematic Entomology 42: 473-488.