Megachile (Eutricharaea)

Praz, Christophe, Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the subgenus Eutricharaea Thomson in Egypt, with a key to the species and the description of two new species (Hymenoptera, Anthophila Megachilidae, genus Megachile Latreille), Zootaxa 5032 (3), pp. 301-330 : 323

Megachile (Eutricharaea) sp. 2

Figs 51–54 .

Male: Small-sized Eutricharaea characterized as follows: Integument dark, except the following body parts, which are orange: all femora and tarsi, front coxa, all sternites, antennae except scape and pedicel, parts of mandibles and clypeus, latero-inferior parts of T1 and T2. Front legs modified as follows: front coxa with comparatively long and acute, triangular spine ( Fig. 54 ), anterior surface of coxa glabrous, shiny, nearly impunctate, without patch of orange setae. Front tarsi yellowish white, ventral side of segments 2 and 3 with black maculation ( Fig. 52 ). Last antennal segment distinctly broadened, spatulate ( Fig. 53 ). The most distinctive feature is the apical margin of the clypeus, with two rounded teeth separated by a deep emargination ( Fig. 51 ). Preapical carina of T6 with 10 acute teeth and with medial emargination. Genitalia as in Megachile rufomandibularis sp. nov., gonostylus apically bifid, with a short preapical lobe. The structure of the genitalia is reminiscent of Megachile rufomandibularis sp. nov. and M. naevia , thus places this species in the naevia -group. This species would run to M. admixta Cockerell 1931 in the key by Pasteels (1965); both species appear to share numerous characteristics, especially the short vertex, the emarginate clypeus, the strong carina under the front femur and the short vertex, a combination of features that is otherwise unusual in Eutricharaea .

Female: Unknown (possibly Megachile sp. 3 ).

Material examined: EGYPT: 8 ♂, Wadi Khoshb ( Sharm El Sheikh , South Sinai), 16–18.iv.2016, sweep net, leg. A. Al-Shahat ( EFC) .

Figures

FIGURES 49–55. 49. Dorsal view of male of Megachile sp. 1. 50. Dorsal view of mesosoma and head of male of Megachile sp. 1. 51. Apical margin of clypeus of male of Megachile sp. 2. 52. Ventral view of front tarsus of male of Megachile sp. 2. 53. Apical part of antenna of male of Megachile sp. 2. 43. 54. Front coxal spine of male of Megachile sp. 2. 55. Mandibles and clypeus of female of Megachile sp. 3.