( Megachile perihirta )
PHOTO COMMENT
(Cockerell ,1898 )
LOCATION DETAILS
RECOGNITION
BIOLOGY
CREDITS
Alex Miller-Cole
Park Maintenance, City of Oakland
References
| Furry Leaf-cutter Bee ( Megachile perihirta ) | |
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PHOTO COMMENT | |
| IDENTIFICATION | |
| Identification: | Megachile perihirta (Cockerell ,1898 ) |
| Common Name: | Furry Leaf-cutter Bee |
| Life Stage: | (A) adult |
| PHYLOGENY | |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Superorder: | Holometabola |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Apocrita |
| Family: | Megachilidae |
| Subfamily: | Megachilinae |
| Tribe: | Megachilini |
| Genus: | Megachile |
| Taxon Code: | HYM01170 |
| ITIS/TSN: | 761971 |
LOCATION DETAILS | |
| Location Name | |
| Gardens at Lake Merritt, Lakeside Park, 666 Bellevue, Oakland | |
| County: | Alameda County |
| ECI Site#: | CA01100110 |
RECOGNITION | |
| Description | |
| Setae: This native bee is black with long whitish-yellow hair, more so below the thorax and abdomen. The abdomen, however, is mostly bare, although each segment has scattered whitish hair. Wings: Clear with black veins. Legs: The pollen basket below the abdomen is bright red. | |
| Body Length | |
| Female: 13-14 mm. Male: 12-13 mm. | |
| Similar Taxa | |
| Practically undistinguishable from the females of Megachile latimanus Say. | |
BIOLOGY | |
| Univoltine - one generation reaches maturity per year. | |
| Food | |
| Adults drink nectar and visit flowers from several families. Pollen is collected from a wide range of flowering plants, primarily from the family Compositae including Aster and Lotus spp. Larvae feed on both nectar and pollen. | |
| Habitat | |
| Gardens, meadows and orchards. | |
| Nesting Preferences | |
| Nests in ground concealed by dense vegetation in its habitat. Bees may cooperate to dig small burrows in sand, gravel, soil, or in rotting plants or wood. Inside the burrow the bees construct a series of cells lined with leaf fragments. Each cell is provisioned with about 15 loads of pollen and nectar, then one egg is laid. Cells are capped off with several circular leaf fragments. Nests are sometimes parasitized by Cuckoo Bees (Coelioxys spp.), the Blister Beetle Nemognatha lutea and by Red Velvet Ants (Dasymutilla spp.). | |
| Range | |
| Western North America, from Nebraska to Texas and Mexico, west to California, and north to British Columbia and Alberta. | |
| Distribution | |
| Primarily western. | |
| Active Period | |
| Adults are active from July to August. | |
CREDITS | |
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Photographer Alex Miller-Cole Park Maintenance, City of Oakland | |
References | |
| ITIS. | |
| Megachile perihirta. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachile_perihirta). Accessed March 3, 2017. | |
| C. S. Sheffield 2011. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 18 (November 2011) | |
| Species Page - Megachile perihirta, Entomology Collection, University of Alberta. (http://entomology.museums.ualberta.ca/searching_species_details.php?s=5848) | |
