Dinavis

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Dinavis Pasteels, 1965
Common name: none

Overview

Dinavis is only known from male specimens. They have black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
on most of their bodies with brown to reddish integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
on the legs, tegulategula:
the usually oval, small shield-like structure carried at the extreme base of the wing where it attaches to the body
, mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
, and sometimes 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
(Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.). They are covered in long, primarily white to yellow hair with some brown hair on their vertexvertex:
the area between the ocelli and the back of the head
and 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
with 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
and black hair on the discdisc:
a generic term for the middle surface of a plate (usually in reference to an abdominal segment)
(Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.). They range in body length from 14–15 mm (Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.). Dinavis was previously synonymized under Pseudomegachile, but was raised to genus status by Gonzalez et al. (2019).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Pasteels 1965Pasteels 1965:
Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de lrsquo;Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de lrsquo;Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.; Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.)

• Male mandibles three-toothed, with second tooth weak.
• Male mandibles with shiny mandibularmandibular:
  near the mandible
  ridges and without a basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  projection on the lower margin.
• Male front tarsitarsi:
  the group of segments at the end of the leg following the tibia
  expanded.
• 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
  denticulatedenticulate:
  a small tooth-like projection
  with a deep median emarginationemargination:
  a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
  .
• 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 distinct laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  spine.
• 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
  rounded apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .

May be confused with

Dinavis may be confused with Pseudomegachile, which is highly variable, and some species can look very similar in size and coloration. Male Dinavis can be differentiated by the distinct laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
spines on the apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
margin of 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
(Gonzalez and Engel 2012Engel 2012:
Engel M. S. 2012. The honey bees of Indonesia (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Treubia 39: 41ndash;49.).

Host associations

Floral associations are unknown.

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Dinavis consists of one species: D. muansae (Eardley 2013Eardley 2013:
Eardley, C. 2013. A taxonomic revision of the southern African leaf-cutter bees, Megachile Latreille sensu stricto and Heriadopsis Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3601 (1): 1ndash;133.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Dinavis is uncommon and is only known from southern Africa (Eardley 2013Eardley 2013:
Eardley, C. 2013. A taxonomic revision of the southern African leaf-cutter bees, Megachile Latreille sensu stricto and Heriadopsis Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3601 (1): 1ndash;133.).

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

References

Eardley, C. 2013. A taxonomic revision of the southern African leaf-cutter bees, Megachile Latreille sensu stricto and Heriadopsis Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3601(1): pp.1-133.

Gonzalez, V.H. and M.S. Engel. 2012. African and Southeast Asian Chalicodoma (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae): new subgenus, new species, and notes on the composition of Pseudomegachile and Largella. Annales Zoologici 62: 599-617.

Gonzalez, V.H., G.T. Gustafson, and M.S. Engel. 2019. Morphological phylogeny of Megachilini and the evolution of leaf-cutter behavior in bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of Melittology 85: 1-123.

Pasteels, J.J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) de l’Afrique Noire, 1. Les Genres Creightoniella [sic], Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Annales Musee Royal de l’Afrique Central [Tervuren], Sciences Zoologiques 8: 137 -579 pp.