Austrochile

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Austrochile Michener, 1965
Common name: none

Overview

Austrochile are robust, parallel-sided bees with black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
and white and black hair on their head and thorax (Michener 1965Michener 1965:
Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.). 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
sometimes have white 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
, but the pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
of their abdomen is mostly black, aside from distinct reddish hair on T5-T6. They range in body length from 9–11 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 1965Michener 1965:
Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.)

• Preoccipital carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  present laterally but weak.
• Pronotal lobe pronotal lobe:
  a part of the pronotum located dorsally on the posterior margin of the pronotum and overlaps the anterior thoracic spiracle
  with high carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  or lamellalamella:
  thin, plate-like, often somewhat translucent structure
  .
• S1 with a large subapicalsubapical:
  located just behind the apex of the segment or body part
  spine.
• T5–T6 with reddish hair.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  four-toothed.
• Female tarsal claw with a large basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  tooth or angle.
• Male front coxacoxa:
  the basal segment of the leg
  with a spine or projection.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  three- or four-toothed and no basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  projection on the lower margin.
• Male 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
  preapicalpreapical:
  referring to a section of a bee that is physically found just before the outermost (or apical) end of the section or segment
  carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  is strongly produced medially to a truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  projection with a crenulatecrenulate:
  having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge
  or denticulatedenticulate:
  a small tooth-like projection
  margin.
• Male 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
  apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin with four strong spines.

May be confused with

Austrochile may be confused with some of the larger Hackeriapis because they both have parallel-sided abdomens and red hair on the last two 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
(Michener 1965Michener 1965:
Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.). Austrochile can be differentiated by the large subapicalsubapical:
located just behind the apex of the segment or body part
spine on S1S1:
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
.

Host associations

Austrochile has been observed visiting flowers of the genera Jacksonia (Fabaceae) and Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) (Prendergast 2020Prendergast 2020:
Prendergast, K. 2020. Native bee survey of Lake Claremont Nov 2019 ndash; Feb 2020. Friends of Lake Claremont: https://friendsoflakeclaremont.org/?p=4771. Accessed 25-Oct-2020).

Nesting behavior

Austrochile use resin to construct their nest cells (Houston and Pike 2013Houston and Pike 2013:
Houston, T.F. and D.T. Pike. 2013. Aerial brood cells constructed by some Australian resin bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and a case of gregarious nesting. The Australian Entomologist 40(2): 67-78.). Unlike most Megachile, which typically nest in cavities, some Austrochile build entirely exposed resin single-cell nests on twigs and stems (Houston and Pike 2013Houston and Pike 2013:
Houston, T.F. and D.T. Pike. 2013. Aerial brood cells constructed by some Australian resin bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and a case of gregarious nesting. The Australian Entomologist 40(2): 67-78.). Other Austrochile construct resin nests in pre-existing crevices in rocks or in sandy soil (Houston and Pike 2013Houston and Pike 2013:
Houston, T.F. and D.T. Pike. 2013. Aerial brood cells constructed by some Australian resin bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and a case of gregarious nesting. The Australian Entomologist 40(2): 67-78.).

Diversity

Austrochile consists of ten species (Michener 1965Michener 1965:
Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Austrochile are found throughout the non-tropical areas of Australia (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

Houston, T.F. and D.T. Pike. 2013. Aerial brood cells constructed by some Australian resin bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) and a case of gregarious nesting. The Australian Entomologist 40(2): 67-78.

Prendergast, K. 2020. Native bee survey of Lake Claremont Nov 2019 – Feb 2020. Friends of Lake Claremont: https://friendsoflakeclaremont.org/?p=4771. Accessed 25-Oct-2020

Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.

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