Leafcutter Bee - Megachile addenda

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Leafcutter, Mason, and Resin Bees, and allies (Megachilidae) » Leafcutter, Resin, Mortar, Sharptail, Mason, and Woolcarder bees and relatives (Megachilinae) » Leafcutter, Resin, Mortar, and Sharptail bees (Megachilini) » Leafcutter and Resin Bees (Megachile) » Subgenus Xanthosarus (Megachile Subgenus Xanthosarus) » Megachile addenda

Photo#1239751

Copyright © 2016 Jatai

Leafcutter Bee - Megachile addenda -

Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York, USA
June 15, 2016
Size: slightly more than 1/2"

Could this be a female Megachile Addenda? The bee’s abdomen has distinct white bands; it has white scopal hairs (except under T-6, where the hairs appear black). The bee has four teeth with a cutting edge between 3 and 4, very similar to the drawing of the bee’s jaw in the Discover Life database page on M. Addenda (http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Megachile+addenda). The Discover Life database also notes that on M. Addenda, (1) the cutting edge between 3rd and 4th teeth is wider than the narrowly pointed 4th tooth and (2) “the greatest depth of the gap between the 3rd and 4th tooth, ignoring the cutting edge, is clearly near the 4th tooth". This is true of this bee.

The bee was feeding on cow vetch (Vicia villosa), which is in the same legume family (Fabaceae) as Baptisia, one of the documented forage plants for M. Addenda.

Or are we off base here, and is this just something else entirely?

Images of this individual: tag all

Leafcutter Bee - Megachile addenda - female

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Contributed by Jatai on 15 June, 2016 - 8:37pm
Last updated 16 June, 2016 - 9:35am

Off base...home run or grand slam!

Nice work, she looks great. A first for the BugGuide, I'm glad that Dr. Ascher could confirm, congrats! Here is a pointer for your web-links, FYI.
You can wrap the URL in a clickable link, with a custom title of your choosing. The BBCode format is [url =http://web address]Link-Title[ /url] without the spaces. Be sure to test them, before posting.
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… Bob Biagi, 15 June, 2016 - 9:50pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… John S. Ascher, 15 June, 2016 - 9:42pm

Megachile Addenda

Thank for very much for providing such a quick ID.

… Jatai, 15 June, 2016 - 10:23pm

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