Anthidioma

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Anthidioma Pasteels, 1984
Subgenera: none
Common name: none

Overview

Anthidioma females are medium-sized black bees with a stocky build that range in body length from 8–13 mm. They have abundant long grey to white hairs and no maculations on their thorax or abdomen (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). They are not commonly found. Males of this genus are unknown (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diversity

Anthidioma contains 2 species worldwide (Griswold and Gonzalez 2013Gonzalez 2013:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2013. Taxonomic comments on Megachile subgenus Chrysosarus (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of Melittology 5: 1ndash;6.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.)

• Abdomen with abundant long hairs.
• Abdomen without apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  hair bandsbands:
  usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
  .
• Arolia absent.
• Middle tibiatibia:
  the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  with one spine.
• Omaulus omaulus:
  angle between anterior and lateral surfaces of mesepisternum
  not carinatecarinate:
  having keels or carinae
  .
• Preoccipital carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  absent.
• Propodeum propodeum:
  the last segment of the thorax
  with basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  area hairless except laterally.
• Stigma stigma:
  a pigmented/ thickened spot on the costal margin of the forewing, usually at the end of the radius(Greek, stigma= mark)
  less than twice as long as broad.
• Terga terga:
  the segments on the top side of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, or T7
  without impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  margins.
• T1 without raised carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  where the anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  and dorsaldorsal:
  in general, the upper surface
  faces meet.
• Female tarsal claws bifidbifid:
  divided into two branches; forked
  .

May be confused with

Anthidioma is most similar morphologically to Afranthidium and Pseudoanthidium, however, they differ in the lack of hair on the propodeumpropodeum:
the last segment of the thorax
and the absence of yellow maculations (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Host associations

Floral associations of Anthidioma are largely unknown; however, a single specimen of Anthidioma was observed on Fabaceae (Gess and Gess 2007Gess and Gess 2007:
Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiine) in southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 30ndash;50.).

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown. However, Anthidioma is in the series of wool carder bees, so they likely use plant materials to build cotton-lined nest cells rather than using resin.

Distribution

Anthidioma only occurs in western Cape Providence, South Africa, and Namibia (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

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

References

Gess, S.K. and F.W. Gess. 2007. Notes on nesting and flower visiting of some Anthidiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiine) in Southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 16: 30–50.
 
Griswold, T.L. and V.H. Gonzalez. 2013. A new species of the rare African wool-carder bee genus Anthidioma (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from Namibia. African Entomology 21: 117-180.
 
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.