Megachile (Eutricharaea)Megachile chrysopyga Megachile macularis
Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis belong to the genus Megachile, a cosmopolitan group of solitary bees, that are often called leafcutter bees or leafcutting bees.
The Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis has been sighted in both WA and down the east coast. The distribution in the midwest and southern part of Western Australia, and down the east side of Australia from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis, male and female. First pic (female), showing that although one of the typical identifying features of Eutricharaea is alighting on a flower with wings splayed out (as in 2nd pic), it’s not always the case… Last pic is another male but he’s not sleeping this time, he’s having a bit of a tidy up, holding on to the leaf with his jaws while he uses his legs to brush himself clean.
Many thanks to Gary Taylor for contribution and permission to use his images on this page Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis.
One of the flora you sometimes see the Megachile macularis, is the “Coastal Moort” Eucalyptus platypus (a favourite of many insect species).
Check out Gary’s blogs:
- Scientific Classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Superfamily: Apoidea
- Informal: Apiformes
- Family: Megachilidae
- Subfamily: Megachilinae
- Tribe: Megachilini
- Genus: Megachile
- Subgenus: infrageneric Eutricharaea
- Species: Megachile macularis
Footnote & References
- Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis, images supplied courtesy of Gary Taylor
- Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:120c7497-f842-4b02-a2ed-36f7e318d931
- Native macularis megachile, PaDIL, https://www.padil.gov.au/pollinators/pest/main/138784/24035
- Megachile (Eutricharaea) macularis, Canberra Nature Map, https://canberra.naturemapr.org/species/8238
Megachile (Eutricharaea)Megachile chrysopyga Megachile macularis
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