An annotated catalogue of the leafcutter and mason bees (genus Megachile) of the Neotropics

Abstract

Megachile is treated here as a single genus combining Megachile with Chalicodoma. In the Americas the genus occurs from Alaska and Canada to southern Chile and Argentina, and is well represented in the tropics. Despite their economic and ecological importance as pollinators, the biology of few species has been studied in detail largely because they are difficult to identify. The 419 species in the catalogue are allocated to 28 subgenera (including 10 Old World species introduced to the region and one species dubiously recorded from the New World). Summaries of information on each species’ classification, biology and geographical distribution are given.

Invasive Africanized honey bee impact on native solitary bees: a pollen resource and trap nest analysis

“…Centris analis obligately uses floral oils of Malpighiaceae to mix with its pollen brood provisions; elsewhere in Mexico, it utilizes different asterids (Asteraceae, Solanaceae) but no Sapotaceae, and Megachile often uses Asteraceae and Fabaceae in the Neotropics (Quiroz et al. , 2001; Cane & Sipes, 2006; Raw, 2007). The impact that feral Apis , habitat alteration, and beekeeping already may have had on such comparative data is unknown.…”

Liste préliminaire des abeilles de Guadeloupe (Petites Antilles) et leurs relations avec la flore butinée (Hymenoptera : Apoidea, Megachilidae et Apidae)

“…Brooks (1999) a étudié les Anthophora antillaise dans une monographie révisée. Une importante révision des Mégachiles de la région Néotropicale est due à Raw (2007), mais dans certains cas, les informations concernant les Antilles sont erronées.…”

The subgenus Chelostomoides in Argentina (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Megachile)

“…Most of its diversity is found in U.S.A. and Mexico, and a few species occur in Central America, South America and the Caribbean Region. In South America three species have been described from Colombia and Peru, and another one extends its range from Mexico to southern Colombia (Michener, 2007;Raw, 2007;Moure et al, 2007). Chelostomoides is an isolated element in the megachilid fauna of the New World, since its closest relatives occur in the Old World and Australia (Michener, 2007;González, 2008;Trunz et al, 2016).…”