Bees of Canada Logo

Megachile lippiae Cockerell, 1900

Properties

Scientific Name: Megachile lippiae Cockerell, 1900

Common Name: Lippia Leafcutter Bee

Taxonomy

Megachile cleomis var. lippiae Cockerell, 1900: 15 [♀, ♂].

     Lectotype ♀, designated by Mitchell (1935: 38, by mention). USA, New Mexico, Organ Mts., La Cueva, about 5300 ft., by C.H.T. Townsend, on Lippia Wrightii [CAS no. 15650].

Megachile schismatura Cockerell, 1908: 267 [♂]. Synonymy by Bzdyk (2012: 47).

     Holotype ♂. USA, New Mexico, Mesilla Park, 25 April 1895, by T.D.A. Cockerell, on Onobrychis [USNM no. 29385].

 

Taxonomic notes: Sheffield et al. (2011: 38 ) were the first to recognize Megachile lippiae Cockerell, 1900 as a valid species, supported by Bzdyk (2012: 46) and Sheffield and Genaro (2013: 14).

Mitchell (1935: 32; 1962: 118), Michener (1951: 1172), and Hurd (1979: 2054) considered Megachile schismatura Cockerell, 1908 a synonym of M. texana Cresson, 1878, though Bzdyk (2012: 47) placed it into synonymy under M. lippiae Cockerell, 1900.

Bzdyk (2012: 47) also indirectly designated a lectotype for M. schismatura by mention, though it was not required as Cockerell’s (1908: 267) description included only one specimen; he indicated “Mesilla Park, as described under M. onobrychidis” as the type locality, and under that taxon (Cockerell 1908: 266) he indicated that specimens, one being M. schismatura.

DNA Barcode Index Number (BIN): BOLD:AAD3298

Distribution in Canada: Buckell 1950 [BC, as M. texana var. lippiae Cockerell]; Sheffield et al. 2011 [BC, AB, SK, MB, ON], 2014 [AB]; Bzdyk 2012 [BC, AB, ON]; Elwell 2012 [BC]; Sheffield and Heron 2019 [BC].

Mitchell (1935: 38) indicated that this represented a definative western variety of M. texana, so material from central Canada recorded by Sheffield et al. (2011) may be true M. texana Cresson, 1878, though it was also recorded from the eastern United States by Bzdyk (2012: 47).

 

References

Cockerell TDA (1900) The New Mexico bees of the genus Megachile and a new Andrena. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 7 6(31): 7-20.https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930008678335

Mitchell TB (1935) A revision of the genus Megachile in the Nearctic region. Part II. Morphology of the male sternites and genital armature and the taxonomy of the subgenera Litomegachile, Neomegachile and Cressoniella. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 61(1): 1-44.https://www.jstor.org/stable/25077331

Hurd PD (1979) Superfamily Apoidea. In: Krombein KV, Hurd Jr PD, Smith DR, Burks BD (Eds) Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 2735 pp.

Mitchell TB (1962) Bees of the Eastern United States. Volume 2. North Carolina Agricultural Experimental Station Technical Bulletin 152, Raleigh, 557 pp.

Sheffield CS, Frier SD, Dumesh D (2014) The bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes) of the Prairies Ecozone, with comparisons to other grasslands of Canada. In: Giberson DJ, Cárcamo HA (Eds) Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands (Volume 4): Biodiversity and Systematics Part 2. 4. Biological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, 479 pp. [ISBN 978-0-9689321-7-9].https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3752/9780968932179.ch11

Sheffield CS, Heron JM (2019) The bees of British Columbia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes). Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 115: 44-85.https://journal.entsocbc.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1001/1097

Cockerell TDA (1908) Descriptions and records of bees.—XVIII. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 8 1(3): 259-267. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222930808692398

Michener CD (1951) Family Megachilidae. In: Muesebeck CF, Krombein KV, Townes HK (Eds) Hymenoptera of America north of Mexico Synoptic Catalog. 2. United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Monograph, Washington. Pp. 1136-1186.

Buckell ER (1950) Record of bees from British Columbia: Megachilidae. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 46: 21-31.

Elwell SL (2012) The effects of livestock grazing and habitat type on plant-pollinator communities of British Columbia’s Endangered Shrubsteppe. MSc Thesis, Simon Fraser University. X + 110 pp.

Sheffield CS, Ratti C, Packer L, Griswold T (2011) Leafcutter and mason bees of the genus Megachile Latreille (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Canada and Alaska. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 18: 1-107. https://doi.org/10.3752/cjai.2011.18

Bzdyk EL (2012) A revision of the Megachile subgenus Litomegachile Mitchell with an illustrated key and description of a new species (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae, Megachilini). ZooKeys 221: 31-61. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.221.3234

Sheffield CS, Genaro JA (2013) A new species of Megachile (Litomegachile) from Cuba, the Antilles (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Journal of Melittology 19: 1-17.https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.v0i19.4564

Sociality: Solitary
Pollen Specialization: Polylectic
Wintering Stage: Mature Larva

Crop Preference: Not Available
Non Crop Preference: Not Available

Distribution: Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario
Ecozone: Mixwood Plains, Prairie, Western Interior Basin