Megachile (Megachiloides) dakotensis Mitchell, 1926

Megachile dakotensis Mitchell, 1926b: 164 .

Megachile (Xeromegachile) dakotensis; Mitchell 1937a: 335; 1944: 136; 1962: 145. Hurd 1979: 2063.

Megachile (Megachiloides) dakotensis; Raw 2002: 17.

Diagnosis. The female of M. dakotensis can be identified by the shape of T3–5, which are strongly concave between the depressed apical and basal grooves (Fig. 7O), reddish tibiae apically, and the asymmetrical emargination between its 3 rd and 4 th (basal) teeth with emargination deepest closer to the 4 th tooth (Fig. 7C). The male of M. dakotensis can be identified by its procoxal spine (Fig. 8H), which is longer than wide, reddish tibiae apically (front tibiae can be yellowish apically), and the shape of T2–4, which are strongly concave between the depressed apical and basal grooves (Fig. 10D).

Notes. Mitchell (1937a) recorded this species from Montana without a more specific locality, and since then, only two specimens have been collected in Montana, both at Medicine Rocks State Park, near the eastern border, in 2020 (Fig. 1I). We have been unable to locate Michell’s voucher. This rarely collected species was first described in Mitchell 1926b, then redescribed in Mitchell (1937a) and Mitchell (1962) with male characters illustrated. Photographs of both sexes can be found on BOLD (http://www.barcodinglife.org).