Megachile (Eutricharaea) maculariformis at Brogo, NSW

Gold-tipped leafcutter bee at Brogo, NSW

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Author's notes

Body length about 9 mm. Suggest Megachilidae sp. My reference: "Native Bees of Australia" (Terry Houston). Fore wing venation (c) on page 198 matches my specimen (photo 2) very well.

5 comments

KerriLee wrote:

16 Oct 2019

Nice sighting, nice photos, Max. Looks rather like a Megachile sp., I think. The strong mandibles, rather 'thick-head' and parallel-sided abdomen seem to fit. Plus it's a good photo match to the leaf-cutter bees on CNM
https://canberra.naturemapr.org/Community/Species/Sightings/20400
this sighting, in particular:
https://canberra.naturemapr.org/Community/Sightings/Details/4205727
Although the orange colouration is perhaps not a great morphological feature for keying out, it does seem a feature of many megachiles.
What do you think?
(also see pages 202 and 198 in Houston)

MaxCampbell wrote:

16 Oct 2019

Hi Kerry, I think you're right. I've looked again at the fore wing venation and realised that the stigma is a significant feature. My specimen's stigma better matches the Megachilidae (photo c on pg. 198 in Houston). Careful comparison with wing venation for Leioproctus sp. fore wing (photo b on pg. 205 in Houston) shows the Megachilidae to be a better (almost perfect) match.

MaxCampbell wrote:

16 Oct 2019

Hi Kerri, I see that the only option in our list for Megachilidae is Megachile (Eutricharaea) serricauda which I doubt is right for my specimen, so I will leave it at don't know and let you decide on family or genus.

KerriLee wrote:

16 Oct 2019

Hi again Max, Looks like a male (abdominal structures and modified front tarsi). Most likely Megachile (Eutricharaea) or Megachile (Hackeriapis). I'll just confirm at Megachile for now, and seek Michael Batley's advice.

KerriLee wrote:

17 Oct 2019

Max - we can confirm to species level now! Michael Batley was very helpful, confirming both this sighting and one of mine from last week. He commented that:
"Megachile maculariformis is very common along most of the east coast and males are easily recognised by the bulbous swelling on the fore tarsus. The only other species with anything like it is apparently restricted to Western Australia."

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