''Megachile fidelis'', the faithful leafcutting bee, 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 monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

in the family

Megachilidae Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Characteristic traits of this family are the restriction of their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclu ...

. This species is found in the western United States, where it ranges from

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, west to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and north to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and often inhabits meadows and gardens. The bee is black, but covered by golden/yellow hair on its face, behind its eyes, on its

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

, below its wings (which are blackish) and on its legs. The

pollen basket The pollen basket or corbicula (plural corbiculae) is part of the tibia on the hind legs of the female of certain species of bees. They use the structure in harvesting pollen and carrying it to the nest or hive where it is used as food by the col ...

of the species is located under its

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. As often found with most bees, ''Megachile fidelis'' feeds on the nectar of flowers - particularly the nectar of composite flowers. The nests of ''M. fidelis'' are created in almost exactly the same fashion as, ''M. perihirta'', the

Western Leafcutting Bee ''Megachile perihirta'', commonly known as the Western leafcutting bee, is a bee in the genus ''Megachile''. The bee is native to western North America, ranging from Nebraska to Texas and Mexico, west to California, and north to British Columbia ...

. However, adult bees do not leave their brood cells until all the cells between their cell and the end of the tunnel have been vacated. As with the case of many bees, larva grow extremely rapidly when in their brood cells. It is often found that this species of bee leave their nests around spring. The species was first described by

Ezra Townsend Cresson Ezra Townsend Cresson (18 June 1838, in Byberry19 April 1926, in Swarthmore) was an American entomologist who specialized in the Hymenoptera order of insects. He wrote ''Synopsis of the families and genera of the Hymenoptera of America, north of ...

in 1878.

References

External links

Colorado State University "Extension" - Leafcutter Bees no. 5.

The Faithful Leafcutting Bee
fidelis Endemic insects of the United States Insects described in 1878 Taxa named by Ezra Townsend Cresson {{megachile-stub