Megachile (Mitchellapis)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Megachilini
Genus: Megachile Latreille, 1802
Subgenus: Mitchellapis Michener, 1965
Common name: none

Overview

Megachile (Mitchellapis) are elongate bees that range in body length from 12–16 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 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Gonzalez 2008Gonzalez 2008:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.)

• Female with white apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  bands of hairs on the 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
  beneath the scopascopa:
  modified hairs for carrying pollen; often branched and dense hairs on the hind-leg, or on the ventral surface of the abdomen in Megachilidae
  .
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  with a cutting edge in the second interspace.
• Female pronotal lobepronotal lobe:
  a part of the pronotum located dorsally on the posterior margin of the pronotum and overlaps the anterior thoracic spiracle
  with a rounded transverse ridge.
• Female S6S6:
  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
  with a large, smooth area before an apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  fringe.
• Female 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
  with long hairs, and a shallowly emarginateemarginate:
  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
  and produced apexapex:
  end of any structure
  .
• 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
  with a median spine.

May be confused with

Megachile (Mitchellapis) may be confused with bees in the subgenera M. (Sayapis) and M. (Neocressoniella) due to their similar body shape and both having a cutting edge in the second interspace (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Gonzalez 2008Gonzalez 2008:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.). Megachile (Mitchellapis) can also differentiated from bees in the subgenus Megachile (Neocressoniella) by the presence of 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
beneath the scopascopa:
modified hairs for carrying pollen; often branched and dense hairs on the hind-leg, or on the ventral surface of the abdomen in Megachilidae
(Gonzalez 2008Gonzalez 2008:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.).

Host associations

Megachile (Mitchellapis) are known to visit species of Eucalyptus, also known as gum trees, which are in the family Myrtaceae (USDA-ARS 2020USDA-ARS 2020:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS). 2020. U. S. National Pollinating Insects Database, electronic dataset. USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research, Logan, Utah. Accessed 2020-24-01.).

Nesting behavior

Megachile (Mitchellapis) nesting behavior is unknown (Houston 2018Houston 2018:
Houston, T.F. 2018. A guide to the native bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton Australia, 280 pp.). They most likely use leaves, resin, and masticated foliage to build their brood cells similar to the behavior seen in the sister groups Megachile (Sayapis) and Megachile (Creightonella) (Gonzalez 2008Gonzalez 2008:
Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.; Houston 2018Houston 2018:
Houston, T.F. 2018. A guide to the native bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton Australia, 280 pp.).

Diversity

Megachile (Mitchellapis) is a subgenus of six species (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Houston 2018Houston 2018:
Houston, T.F. 2018. A guide to the native bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton Australia, 280 pp.); none are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Megachile (Mitchellapis) are native to Australia, where they range from Queensland to Western 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

Gonzalez, V.H. 2008. Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile. Thesis: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the College of Liberal Arts and Science of the University of Kansas: 1-274.

Houston, T. 2018. A guide to native bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, 272 pp.

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

United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS). 2020. U. S. National Pollinating Insects Database, electronic dataset. USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research, Logan, Utah. Accessed 2020-24-01.