Megachile opacifrons Perez , 1897

Cornalba, Maurizio, Quaranta, Marino, Selis, Marco, Flaminio, Simone, Gamba, Sirio, Mei, Maurizio, Bonifacino, Marco, Cappellari, Andree, Catania, Roberto, Niolu, Pietro, Tempesti, Stefano & Biella, Paolo, 2024, Exploring the hidden riches: Recent remarkable faunistic records and range extensions in the bee fauna of Italy (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila), Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. 116014-116014 : 116014

Megachile opacifrons Perez, 1897

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Sirio Gamba; sex: 1 male; occurrenceID: ACF18215-FD76-5D51-BF2B-DADA9FB21E0C; Location: countryCode: IT; stateProvince: Liguria; county: Imperia; municipality: Apricale; verbatimElevation: 305 m; verbatimLatitude: 43.873; verbatimLongitude: 7.6683; Identification: identifiedBy: Maurizio Cornalba, vid. C. Praz; Event: eventDate: 2021-07-18; Record Level: collectionCode: SGC

Notes

This is the first Italian record of M. opacifrons . The specimen was found in a clearing surrounded by deciduous woodland, vineyards and an abandoned olive grove. M. opacifrons has a West Mediterranean distribution and was known to occur in southern France east to the upper Roia Valley ( Schmid-Egger 2011). Hence, it was conceivable that it might also occur in neighbouring parts of Italy. Images: Fig. 7 .

Figures

Figure 7. Megachile opacifrons Perez, 1897, male from Apricale, (A) habitus; (B) fore tarsi, outer view; (C) fore tarsi, inner view.