Megachile chrysopogon

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Megachile chrysopogon
Systematics
Superfamily : Apoidea
without rank: Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Megachilidae
Subfamily : Megachilinae
Genre : Mortar and leaf cutter bees ( Megachile )
Type : Megachile chrysopogon
Scientific name
Megachile chrysopogon
Vachal , 1910

The species Megachile chrysopogon belongs within the group of bees to the genus of mortar and leaf cutter bees . She is a solitary bee. The species was discovered in the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo ) by Dr. Sheffield Neave was discovered and scientifically described for the first time in 1910 by the French politician and bee researcher Joseph Vachal .

features

The two large subgroups of the genus Magachile are known as mortar bees and leafcutter bees, but there are also transitional forms. Megachile chrysopogon is assigned to the mortar bees. Your mandibles have four teeth, but hardly any edge-like broadened surfaces. This prevents the females from cutting off leaves or grass to use in building their brood cells, as the leafcutter bees do. The cells of Megachile chrysopogon consist exclusively of clay and stones.

Megachile chrysopogon is a rather small mortar bee with a length of around 1 cm. The largest megachile species, Megachile pluto , reaches just under 4 cm.

distribution

This African mortar bee is native to Central Africa , East Africa and South Africa.

Way of life

Megachile chrysopogon lives solitary, no states are formed. Each female builds her own nest out of clay and stones. This contains individual cells in which the larvae develop. Each female supplies her offspring with pollen and nectar, with which the cells are filled before they lay eggs.

Taxonomy

The bee genus Megachile comprises a very large number of species worldwide and is divided into many subgenera. Megachile chrysopogon belongs to the subgenus Paracella Michener, 1997 within the group of African species .

Megachile candidicauda , first described scientifically in 1932 by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell as a separate species, was synonymous with Megachile chrysopogon in 2013 , as were the species M. flavibasis , M. heterotricha , M. candidigena , M. neli , M. albofilosa described by Cockerell and M. discretula and the species M. rubeola and M. meesi introduced by Pasteels .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Vachal: Diagnoses d'Insectes nouveaux recueillis dans le Congo Belge par le Dr. Sheffield-Neave ( Musée du Congo Belge , Tervueren). Hymenoptera. Apidæ. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, 54, pp. 306–328, 1910 (first description p. 313)
  2. ^ Charles Duncan Michener: The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000
  3. ↑ Connal Eardly: 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, 2013

literature

  • Joseph Vachal: Diagnoses d'Insectes nouveaux recueillis dans le Congo belge par le Dr. Sheffield-Neave (Musée du Congo belge, Tervueren). Hymenoptera. Apidæ. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, 54, pp. 306–328, 1910 (first description)
  • Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell: African Bees of the Genera Ceratina, Halictus and Megachile. Natural History Museum Publications, London 1937 ISBN 0565001515