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Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 3/24/2015 Publication Date: 4/23/2015 Citation: Griswold, T.L. 2015. A review of Trachusoides Michener and Griswold (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Zootaxa. 3949(1):147-150. Interpretive Summary: Bees nest in many different locations and ways. This is particularly true with the leaf-cutter bees (genus Megachile). Some species are renters, occupying holes in the ground, beetle burrows in dead wood, hollow stems, or abandoned burrows of other bees in cliffs. Others excavate their own nests in sand dunes, pithy stems, punky wood, or aerial termite mounds. Still others construct nests on the surface of rocks, wood, or even structures. Use of living plants for nesting is almost unheard of. Only one species from Europe has been known to do so. We provide the first observations of such nesting in North America by Megachile montivaga. It is known to rent in holes but now is shown to also excavate nests in the stems of living thistles. Technical Abstract: Although Megachile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) are well-known for their diverse nesting habits, records of the genus nesting in live plants are rare and unknown in the North America. Here, we report the widespread Megachile (Megachile) montivaga Cresson, 1878 nesting in live thistle (Cirsium neomexicanum Gray), the first record of this behavior in the Nearctic. |
