Megachile willughbiella

Megachile willughbiella, Willughby's leaf-cutter bee is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae.[1] It was described by the English entomologist William Kirby in 1802; he named it in honour of the ornithologist Francis Willughby.[1][2]

Megachile willughbiella
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Megachilidae
Genus: Megachile
Species:
M. willughbiella
Binomial name
Megachile willughbiella
(Kirby, 1802)
Synonyms

Megachile atriventris Schenk 1853

Description

Megachile willughbiella is a leafcutter bee found in gardens and brownfield areas especially in cities. The nest is built in soil or in wood; the cells are made of leaves. The species has kleptoparasites from the leafcutting cuckoo bee genus Coelioxys, such as C. quadridentata, C. rufescens and C. elongata. Pollen is collected from a wide variety of flowers including Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Onagraceae, with a preference for Campanulaceae (bellflowers).[3]

Distribution

The species is widely spread across western Europe between Finland, Lithuania and Spain, including Britain and Ireland. In Britain it is one of the most commonly recorded leafcutter species; it is absent from the north Midlands and from mid- and north Wales, but occurs from Cornwall all the way to Inverness, becoming scarcer with latitude.[3]

References
  1. "Megachile". BioLib. 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  2. Kirby, William (1802). Monographia apum Angliae (in Latin). Volume 2. Ipswich, UK: J. Raw. p. 233.
  3. "Megachile willughbiella (Kirby,1802)". BWARS Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
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