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Megachile exilis, F, Talbot Co., MD, Face |
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Megachile exilis, F, Talbot Co., MD, Side |
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© Copyright source/photographer
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Megachile exilis, m, back, Pr. Georges Co., MD |
© Copyright source/photographer
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Megachile exilis, m, face, Pr. Georges Co., MD |
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© Copyright source/photographer
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Megachile exilis, m, side, Pr. Georges Co., MD |
© Rebekah Andrus Nelson
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Megachile exilis, female, clypeus |
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© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
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© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
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© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
© Copyright John Ascher, 2006-2014
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Megachile exilis parexilis |
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Ellen Bulger · 1
Megachile exilis, male, dilated front tarsi |
Ellen Bulger · 1
Megachile exilis, male, dorsal habitus |
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Overview |
Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.
Megachile exilis parexilis
FEMALE—Length 9-10 mm.; abdomen elongate and parallel-sided; entirely black, including tegulae and legs, spurs yellow; eyes subparallel; clypeal margin with a small, very shallow, median, emarginate area, with a small, median tuberele; mandibles 4-dentate, without bevelled edges; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and margin of vertex; cheeks very slightly narrower than eyes; punctures of head and thorax coarse, deep and distinct, uniformly close across vertex, becoming some-what finer and close on cheeks below, crowded below ocelli and on face laterally, supraclypeal area with some narrow, shining interspaces, clypeus with coarse, crowded punctures above, becoming fine and irregular toward apical margin; pubescence entirely pale on head and thorax, quite short and thin, somewhat more copious between antennae and on sides of face and cheeks below, becoming very short and thin on checks above, thin and erect on vertex; thorax with rather short, thin, white pubescence laterally and posteriorly, somewhat more elongate on propodeum, quite dense around tubercles; scutum with very short, thin and obscure, pale pubescence, that on scutellum somewhat more elongate; punctures of scutum uniformly close throughout, those on scutellum somewhat more widely separated but still close, those on axillae finer and densely crowded; pleura with some narrow, shining interspaces, punctures very coarse and deep, becoming relatively fine and close on venter, densely crowded above; lateral faces of propodeum more finely but quite closely and shallowly punctate, posterior face more velvety, punctures very minute, shallow and obscure; all basitarsi somewhat narrower and considerably shorter than their tibiae; tegulae minutely and closely punctate; wings subhyaline, veins brownish-piecous; abdominal terga 2-4 with quite deep, transverse, basal grooves, these sharply carinate basally and more or less occupied by whitish tomentum, apical margins of terga depressed and yellowish or whitish fasciate, completely so on 3-5, but widely interrupted on 2; tergal punctures deep and distinct but rather fine, well separated medially on 3 and 4, rather uniformly fine and close across basal tergum, becoming quite coarse and close laterally on 2-4, 5 with a shallow, basal groove which is not carinate, punctures quite close and irregular throughout; discal pubescence extremely short and thin, hardly evident medially, but becoming somewhat more conspicuous at extreme sides, entirely pale on 1-4, but with sparse, short, erect, dark hairs on 5, tergum 6 nearly straight in profile, with numerous, suberect hairs visible, with an abrupt apical lip, punctures rather fine but deep and densely crowded, partially obscured apically by subappressed, fuscous tomentum; sternum 6 well covered with very short, fuscous, scopal hairs, apex not distinctly fringed; scopa otherwise pale yellow, the sterna deeply, distinctly and closely punctate, somewhat more coarsely so on the more apical sterna, apical margins rather abruptly depressed and yellowish-hyaline; sternal fasciae not evident.
MALE—Length 7-8 mm.; entirely black, including tegulae and legs, but front and mid tarsi brownish-testaceous; eyes very slightly
convergent below; clypeal margin beneath the dense, white beard with a small, median tubercle and a somewhat more robust tubercle on each side; mandibles 3-dentate, inferior process median, broadly triangular, quite densely fringed with short, pale pubescence; apical segment of flagellum slender and simpie; lateral ocelli subequaily distant from eyes and margin of vertex; cheeks subequal to eyes in width, with a bare, shining, shallowly concave area just below base of mandibies, very densely white pubescent back of this; vertex shining, punctures deep, distinct, rather close and coarse, becoming somewhat finer but still close on cheeks below, densely crowded on face below ocelli, becoming more finely rugose laterally and on supraclypeal area, clypeus with coarse, close, distinct punctures above, these becoming fine and densely crowded apically; pubescence entirely pale on head and thorax, quite copious and elongate, snowy white over most of face, but rather thin and erect on upper area of clypeus, exposing the surface, very short and thin on cheeks above the ventral white tuft, very thin and erect but quite elongate on vertex; pubescence rather thin and entirely white on thorax laterally and posteriorly, quite dense around tegulae, erect and quite thin on scutum, somewhat more elongate on scutellum, dense and snowy white on front coxae and venter; punctures of scutum and scutellum quite uniformly deep, distinct and close, moderately coarse, somewhat finer and more shallow but very close on axillae; pleura with some narrow, shining spaces between the coarse and quite close punctures, these becoming very close above; lateral faces of propodeum very finely and closely punctate, posterior face more velvety, punctures very shallow, sparse and minute; front coxal spines reduced to very small but subacute tubercles; front tarsal segments 1-3 broadly dilated, 1 and 2 quite deeply concave below, segment 2 about half the length of 1, and 3 nearly as long as 2, only slightly narrower but not at all concave beneath, the tarsi rather densely, short, white pubescent anteriorly, with a few, sparse, elongate hairs posteriorly but without a definite posterior fringe; mid tibial spurs well developed; mid and hind tarsi slender and simple, hind tarsi with rather elongate, hairs along anterior margin, forming a loose, indistinct fringe; tegulae minutely and closely punctate; wings subhyaline, veins piceous; abdominal terga 2-5 deeply grooved across base, these subcarinate basally on the more basal terga, more or less densely pale tomentose, apical margins of 2-4 quite deeply and abruptly depressed, yellowish-hyaline, fasciate only at extreme sides, tergum 1 with rather copious, erect, white pubescence becoming dense at each side, with very fine and close punctures medially and apically, these becom
ing somewhat more coarse laterally and toward the basal concavity; discal pubescence of following terga very obscure, apparently entirely pale, somewhat more elongate toward base of each tergum; tergal punctures deep and distinct, rather coarse but well separated on 2-4, 5 densely white fasciate across base, punctures rather fine and close but irregular, apical margin deeply but very narrowly depressed, not at all fasciate, discal pubescence erect, thin and white; tergum 6 vertical, white tomentose across base, punctures extremely minute and densely crowded, carina very low and obscure, with a shallow, median emargination, median teeth of apical margin triangularly carinate, much nearer the quite robust, acute, lateral teeth than to each other; tergum 7 transverse, rather robust but quite flat medially, this and margin of 6 obscured by dense, white tomentum; sternum 4 entirely retracted, but unmodified; sterna 1-3 exposed, quite deeply and closely punctate, rather coarsely so laterally, apical margins to some degree depressed and with a dense, apical fringe of white pubescence; apical margin of sternum 5 with a dense fringe of short setae on each side, shallowly emarginate between, with a long, posteriorly directed pencil of setae on each side, setose area composed of a pair of short, oblique lines of setae that are slightly separated medially (fig. 61); setose areas of sternum 6 slightly separated medially, broad at inner end, setae very fine or minute, apical lobe very broad, subtruncate; gonocoxites narrowed above base, slender, slightly curved toward tip (fig. 62).
DISTRIBUTION—Maryland and Indiana to Florida, west to Arizona, March to October.
FLOWER RECORDS—Aselepias, Baptisict, Erigeron, Hydrolecc, hex, Melilotus, Oenothercc, Phaseolus, Rhus, Tephrosia, Trifolium, Vaccinium and Vicia.
Females of this subspecies have been found in fruit fly traps in Florida.
The typical form of exilis (Cresson, 1872. Amer. Ent. Soc. Trans. 4, p. 265. ) is more western in distribution and is nearly identical with this form. Females cannot be satisfactorily separated, but the males differ in the form of the 3rd segment of the front tarsus, this being strongly narrowed apically in typical exilis, the apex being only slightly broader than segment 4. In parexilis the anterior and posterior margins of segment 3 are nearly parallel, the apex being broadly truncate, much broader than segment 4.
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Identification | |
Megachile exilis and campanulae appear to be very closely related. The males appear nearly identical with the exception of the shape of their front tarsi. In exilis the front tarsi are individually dialiated and hollowed out beneath. In campanulae, the front tarsi remain unmodified. They are not dialated or expanded in any way, having a very average appearance.
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Updated: 2024-04-27 00:44:13 gmt
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