Wainia

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Anthidiini
Genus: Wainia Tkalců, 1980
Subgenera: Caposmia, Wainia, Wainiella
Common name: none

Overview

Wainia are black bees that often have apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
bands of white hair on their tergaterga:
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
. They can be small, slender, and elongate with a body length of 4.5 mm, or large and robust with an almost round abdomen and a body length of 10.5 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diversity

Wainia contains 11 species in 3 subgenera (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.); 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.)

• Arolia present.
• Metanotum metanotum:
  the posterior dorsal segment of the thorax, behind the scutellum
  sloping abruptly so that it faces posterior.
• Scutum scutum:
  the large segment on top of the thorax located between the wings and behind the head
  with posterior laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  acute or right angle, sometimes produced posteriorly.
• Stigma stigma:
  a pigmented/ thickened spot on the costal margin of the forewing, usually at the end of the radius(Greek, stigma= mark)
  twice as long as broad or more.
• Wing with two submarginal cellssubmarginal cells:
  one or more cells of the wing lying immediately behind the marginal cells
  .
• T1 anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  face concave.
• 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.
• Parapsidal line parapsidal line:
  the line that runs submedially along the scutum and corresponds to the median border of the site of origin for flight muscles
  linear and elongate.
• Male S2S2:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  large, often meeting T6T6:
  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
  and covering the remaining sternasterna:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  .
• Male T7T7:
  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
  completely invaginated.

May be confused with

Wainia looks most like Hoplitis and Heriades but can be differentiated by the combination of characters listed above (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

Wainia have been observed visiting Indigofera sp. (Fabaceae) (Gess et al. 2008Gess et al. 2008:
Gess, S.K., F.W. Gess, and R.W. Gess. 2008. Patterns of usage of snail shells for nesting by wasps (Vespidae: Masarinae and Eumeninae) and bees (Megachilidae: Megachilinae) in Southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 17: 86ndash;109.; Kuhlmann et al. 2011Kuhlmann et al. 2011:
Kuhlmann, M., F.W. Gess, F. Koch, and S.K. Gess. 2011. Southern African osmiine bees: taxonomic notes, two new species, a key to Wainia , and biological observations (Hymenoptera: Anthophila: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3108: 1ndash;24.).

Nesting behavior

Wainia spp. in the subgenus Caposmia have been found nesting in the empty shells of snails (Kuhlmann et al. 2011Kuhlmann et al. 2011:
Kuhlmann, M., F.W. Gess, F. Koch, and S.K. Gess. 2011. Southern African osmiine bees: taxonomic notes, two new species, a key to Wainia , and biological observations (Hymenoptera: Anthophila: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3108: 1ndash;24.). Inside each shell, they build one to several brood cells and provision them with pollen. These cells can either be constructed with flower petals or with sand grains that have been cemented together with resins likely collected from plants (Kuhlmann et al. 2011Kuhlmann et al. 2011:
Kuhlmann, M., F.W. Gess, F. Koch, and S.K. Gess. 2011. Southern African osmiine bees: taxonomic notes, two new species, a key to Wainia , and biological observations (Hymenoptera: Anthophila: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3108: 1ndash;24.). The shells are then plugged using flower petals, followed by a thick layer of cemented sand (Gess et al. 2008Gess et al. 2008:
Gess, S.K., F.W. Gess, and R.W. Gess. 2008. Patterns of usage of snail shells for nesting by wasps (Vespidae: Masarinae and Eumeninae) and bees (Megachilidae: Megachilinae) in Southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 17: 86ndash;109.).

Distribution

Most species are from southern Africa, but 2 of the 11 known species have been found in Israel and east to the Philippines (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., F.W. Gess, and R.W. Gess. 2008. Patterns of usage of snail shells for nesting by wasps (Vespidae: Masarinae and Eumeninae) and bees (Megachilidae: Megachilinae) in Southern Africa. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 17:86-109.

Kuhlmann, M., F.W. Gess, F. Koch, and S.K. Gess. 2011. Southern African Osmiine bees: taxonomic notes, two new species, a key to Wainia, and biological observations (Hymenoptera: Anthophila: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3108:1-24.
 
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. 2nd. Ed. Johns Hopkins, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.