Megachile centuncularis (Linnaeus)

Weissmann, Julie A., Picanco, Ana, Borges, Paulo A. V. & Schaefer, Hanno, 2017, Bees of the Azores: an annotated checklist (Apidae, Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 642, pp. 63-95 : 81

Megachile centuncularis (Linnaeus)

Description.

Medium-sized (total length 11-12 mm in females and 9-11 mm in males, wing length 7-8,5 mm in females and 7-8 mm in males) dark brown bees with yellowish hair and reddish abdominal pollen collecting brushes (Fig. 9d).

Distinguishing features.

Females with conspicuous ventral pollen brushes and strong mandibels.

General distribution.

West- and Central Europe.

Distribution in the Azores.

Corvo, Faial, Flores, São Jorge, São Miguel, Terceira.

First record.

1865 ( Godman 1870).

Nesting.

In existing holes (e.g. in dead wood, walls, soil or twigs); cell walls and closing plugs are built of leaf sections.

Social behaviour.

Solitary.

Foraging.

Polylectic, Asteraceae , Fabaceae .

Phenology.

July-September.

Material.

São Miguel (Furnas, Ponta Delgada), August-September 1930, leg. L. Chopard, det. Benoist ( Benoist et al. 1936, not seen). Faial (Horta), August-September 1952, 2 females ( Carthy 1955, not seen). Terceira, 2 females, leg. A. Picanço MF22.1, MF22.2 (EDTP).

The COI sequences of specimens MF22.1, MF22.2 (EDTP), acc. no. KX824779-80, are identical to a Megachile centuncularis sequence from Germany in GenBank (KJ838449), and very similar to others from Canada, Croatia, and Germany (see Fig. 2).