Megachile (Callomegachile) sculpturalis Smith, 1853

Hinojosa-Díaz, Ismael, 2008, The giant resin bee making its way west: First record in Kansas (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), ZooKeys 1 (1), pp. 67-71 : 68-69

Megachile (Callomegachile) sculpturalis Smith

Figure 1

Material Female, Kansas: Douglas County, within Lawrence city limits (adjacent to main University campus), 28 June 2008, I.A. Hinojosa-Díaz (net captured). Deposited in the Snow Entomological Collection, Division of Entomology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

Comments The specimen was not freshly emerged, exhibiting relatively worn wings along their apices. Th is indicates that the female was old and had been quite active for some time. Th is wing wear suggests that either the female had newly dispersed

into the area from some distance or, more likely, was part of a newly established population (since no M. sculpturalis have been found in previous summers, and such active and robust bees would have otherwise been noticed) and had spent considerable time seeking new, suitable nesting sites and nest materials.

Figures

Fig. 1. Female of Megachile sculpturalis Smith captured in northeastern Kansas, USA.