Leafcutter and Mason Bees: a Biological Catalogue of the Genus Megachile of the Neotropics Anthony Raw
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- Megachile ( Eutricharaea ) concinna Smith
- Old World
- Megachile ( Eutricharaea ) derelictula Cockerell
Subgenus Eutricharaea ThomsonMegachile subgenus Eutricharaea Thomson 1872: 228. Type species: Apis argentata Fabricius. Gnathocera Provancher 1882: 232 (not Kirby). Type species: Gnathocera cephalica Provancher. Synonymy of Mitchell 1934: 297. Megachile subgenus Paramegachile Friese 1898: 198. Type species: Apis argentata Fabricius. Synonymy of Mitchell 1934: 298. Megachile subgenus Paramegalochila Schulz 1906: 71. Emendation. Synonymy of Hurd 1979: 2057. Androgynella Cockerell 1911b: 313-314. Type species: Megachile detersa Cockerell. Monotypic and original designation. Synonymy of Hurd 1979: 2057. Megachile subgenus Eutricharaea Mitchell 1934: 304. Megachile subgenus Neoeutricharaea Rebmann 1967: 36. Type species: Megachile rotundata (F). Original designation. Synonymy of Hurd 1979: 2057. Eutricharaea is an Old World group at present numbering some 140 species. More than one third (54) are African, 36 are Australian, 15 range from the East Indies to Taiwan and 12 occur on Pacific islands. Two occur in Europe. Five species have been introduced into the New World; three to the West Indies and two to U.S.A. Parker (1978) provided a key to the identification of the three North American species.
Megachile concinna Smith 1879: 79-80. Female. Type locality: St. Domingo [West Indies]. Type repository: NHML 17a2421. Examined. Megachile (Eutricharaea) concinna Mitchell 1943b: 671. Megachile (Eutricharaea) argentata Hurd 1954: 94 (D, F) and Krombein 1958: 244. Misidentification, see Mitchell 1962: 121. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES. Ayala et al 1997: 455 (D). Baker 1975: 657 (P). Butler & Ritchie 1963: 153-157 (F, L, P). Butler & Wargo 1963: 201-206 (D, F, L, N, P). Cockerell 1905: 341 (K). Friese 1902: 199 (D). Gowdey 1926: 99 (D). Hurd 1979: 2057 (D, F, N). Jayasingh & Freeman 1980: 215-216 (F, L, N, P). Krombein 1967: 326-327 (L, N, P). Mitchell 1962: 121-122 (D, F, R-FM). Parker 1978: 61- 64 (K). Parker & Bohart 1966: 97 (D, N). Pasteels 1965: 239- 240 (D, R-F). Raw 1984a: 500-502 (F, L, N, P). Raw 1985: 13 (D). Wolcott 1948: 869 (D, F). DISTRIBUTION. Old World: CHAD. GHANA. SENEGAL. New World: JAMAICA: widespread, but more numerous in drier areas. MEXICO: JA; SO. PUERTO RICO: Main island, Mona. SANTO DOMINGO. U.S.A.: Most states from FL and AL north to PA, OH, KA and UT and west to CA and WA. Probably introduced from Africa to the West Indies during the slave trade. "Presumably introduced from West Indies [to U.S.A. and Mexico] after World War II" (Hurd 1979: 2057). FLOWERS. Polylectic. Visits 27 genera of plants in U.S.A. including Acacia, Asclepias, Aster, Baccharis, Bidens, Centromadia pungens, Citrus, Croton californicus, Euphorbia albomarginata, Heliotropium aculeatum, H. curassavicum, Hemizonia pungens, Ipomaea, Lepidium, Lippia, Lotus purshianus, Medicago sativa, Melilotus alba, M. indica, Onobrychis vicaefolia, Polygonum aubertii, Prosopis, Raphanus sativus, Senecio, Sicyos, Tamarix, Trifolium repens, Vernonia, Wislizenia refracta. In Jamaica both sexes visit Tribulus cistoides, Alternanthera ficoides, Bidens pilosa and species of Heliotropium, Tephrosia, Sida. In Puerto Rico the bees visited Moringa oleifera and Pisonia albida. On alfalfa bees tripped on average 10 flowers per minute. LIFE HISTORY. Developmental period is 3 to 6 weeks depending on temperatureat. The developmental stages can survive higher daily temperatures (>42oC) than thgose of M. rotundata and occur in hotter climates. Adults are active April to September in much of U.S.A., March to October in Florida throughout the year in Jamaica. Males fly quickly around flowers searching for females. NESTING. Adventive nester in disused beetle borings and nail holes in wood, mortar cracks of buildings, folds of cloth, old stems of Sambucus and trapnests. In Jamaica bees also used old nests of Sceliphron assimile, disused toredo worm borings in wood and wooden trap- nests and lined the nest with cuttings of Cassia leaves and flower bracts of Bougainvillea. In U.S.A. leaves cut from alfalfa. Nests averaged 4.4 cells (maximum 16). Cells averaged 5.6 mm wide. Foraging trips were 10 - 20 min. PREDATORS. In U.S.A. - Anthrax cintalapa, Coelioxys moesta, Nemognatha lurida, Tetrasticus megachilidis, Trogoderma. In Jamaica - Melittobia sp. nr. hawaiiensis, Suidasia mites and dermestid beetles. Developmental survival in Jamaica was 49% to 52% with the Melittobia species responsible for 62% of nest deaths. In cells built in old nests of Sceliphron assimile it was 42%.
Megachile derelictula Cockerell 1937a: 112-113. Male. Type locality: Barbados [West Indies] 15 April (J. Ogilvie). Type repository: AMNH. Examined. Megachile (Eutricharaea) derelictula Mitchell 1943b: 671. ADDITIONAL REFERENCE. Pasteels 1965: 237-239 (D, R-F). DISTRIBUTION. Old World: MALI. NIGERIA. SENEGAL. New World: BARBADOS. ST. LUCIA.
Megachile multidens Fox 1891: 345. Female/ Male ? Type locality: Jamaica. Type repository: ANSP 10402/ USNM 1863 ? Megachile (Eutricharaea) multidens Mitchell 1943b: 671. Megachile tenuicornis Cockerell 1937b: 241-242. Male. Type locality: Elisabethville, Katanga, Belgian Congo, 11-17 September (L. Ogilvie). Synonymy of Pasteels 1965: 240. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES. Crawford 1914: 132 (D, R-F & M). Cresson 1928: 69 (T). Gowdey 1926: 100 (D). Pasteels 1965: 240-241 (D, R-M). DISTRIBUTION. Old World: WEST AFRICA. ZAIRE: Katanga. New World: DOMINICA. JAMAICA.
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