Megachilidae

General identifying morphological characters include:

• Two submarginal cells on the forewing
• Long tongue length
• Small to large size 
• Wide range of colors and patterns, but may appear wasp-like, nearly hairless, and often have black, brown, or metallic coloration (green, bronze, blue)
• Females of non-parasitic species have hairs on the underside of their abdomen for carrying pollen

Nesting habitats

Bees in this family typically nest in tunnels that they either find or construct in wood. They will also use hollow twigs/stems, and other small cavities such as those in pine cones and snail shells. Bits of leaves, flower petals, mud, and/or plant resins are used to seal nests.

Sociality 

All species in this family are solitary, but the females of some species may nest close together. When multiple nests are located in the same area, this is called an aggregation. 

Other behavioral or biological traits

Megachilidae is one of the most diverse bee families in terms, of behavior and biological traits. Even closely related species or groups of species can be very different! Notably, some species are specialists that only collect pollen from certain plant species, while others are broad generalists that collect pollen from many different types of plants. Most bees in this family store food for their young in their own nests, but others are social parasites or cleptoparasites. Parasitic bees invade and lay their eggs in the nest of another bee species. Either the adult parasite or their larva kills the host’s young in the nest. Then, the parasite’s larva eats the food that the host stored. In this way, social parasites and cleptoparasites take advantage of the other species’ efforts to build a nest and collect food.

Species list

A checklist of megachilid bees recorded in Pennsylvania is presented below. For each species, we list the counties, date ranges, and the most recent years they have been collected or observed  in the openly-accessible checklist [see 1].

Additional information about species in this family is available at:

• Discover Life
• Bugguide

References

1. Kilpatrick SK, Gibbs J, Mikulas MM, Spichiger S-E, Ostiguy N, Biddinger DJ, López-Uribe MM (2020) An updated checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila) of Pennsylvania, United States of America. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 77: 1–86. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.77.49622
2. Ascher JS, Pickering J (2020) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Apoidea_species

Photo Credit

USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

How to Cite this Webpage
Kilpatrick SK, López-Uribe MM (2020) Megachilidae. http://lopezuribelab.com/megachilidae/

Updated 29 June 2020