''Megachile abacula'' is a species of
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
in the
Megachilidae family.
Leafcutter bees
Solitary bees, such as leafcutters, do not form colonies. Unlike
social insects
Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping genera ...
(ants, yellow jackets, honeybees), leafcutters work alone building isolated nests.
Similar to
honeybees
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosmo ...
, female bees perform nearly all essential tasks of brood rearing. These native insects perform essential tasks, pollinating wild plants. The alfalfa leaf cutter bee (''
Megachile rotundata''), native to Europe, has been semi-domesticated for crop
pollination
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds ...
. In
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, the species was deliberately imported to assist in the pollination of food crops, but has now become
feral and widespread.
Taxonomy and naming
The genus ''Megachile'' is a
cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
group of solitary
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
s, often called ''leafcutter bees''. While other
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
within the family
Megachilidae may chew leaves or petals into fragments to build their nests, certain species within ''Megachile'' neatly cut pieces of leaves or petals, hence their common name. The genus ''Megachile'' is one of the largest genera of bees, with almost 1500 species.
[Wedmann, S., et al. (2009)]
Direct and indirect fossil records of megachilid bees from the Paleogene of Central Europe (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae).
/ref>
Life cycle and behavior
Distribution and habitat
Morphology and identification
References
External links
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4490266
abacula
Hymenoptera of North America
Insects described in 1878