''Megachile texana'', the Texas leafcutter 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. Both that their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') is restricted to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclusively on the hind legs as in other ...

. It was

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

described by the American

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Ezra Townsend Cresson Ezra Townsend Cresson, also Ezra Townsend senior (18 June 1838, in Byberry – 19 April 1926, in Swarthmore) was an American entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was ...

in 1878. It is native to the United States and southern Canada.

Description

The female ''Megachile texana'' is between long and the male between . The head and thorax are clad in short, dense whitish hair. The wings are semi-transparent with black veins. The abdomen is barred in black and yellowish-white.

Biology

The nests of ''Megachile texana'' often occur in pasture, with the entrance being under a rock, under a clod of earth or in one case, on a small hillock. The burrows may be up to long and the upper side is often the underside of a flat stone. Sometimes a pre-existing cavity is used, but females have been observed excavating their own nests. A single cell or several cells may be constructed, each lined with cut portions of leaf in a similar way to the nests of ''

Megachile rubi ''Megachile rubi'' is a species of leaf cutting bee in the family Megachilidae, found in the eastern United States. First described by Mitchell in 1924, it is placed in the subgenus ''Xeromegachile'', members of which are most often found in sa ...

''. Each cell is half-filled with a mixture of

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametop ...

and nectar and an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

laid on the food mass. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

consumes its food supply and when sufficiently developed becomes an inactive prepupa enclosed in a

cocoon Cocoon may refer to: *Cocoon (silk), a pupal casing made by moth caterpillars and other insect larvae *Apache Cocoon, web development software * ''Cocoon'' (film), a 1985 science fiction-fantasy film **'' Cocoon: The Return'', 1988 sequel to ''Coco ...

which fills the cell. The outer surface of the cocoon is wound round with brownish threads.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2100391 Texana Hymenoptera of North America Insects of Canada Insects of the United States Insects described in 1878