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Woolly Wall Bee

Megachile lanata

Description:

Formerly flying insect, about 11 mm length overall, with black head, legs, antennae and abdomen and orange thorax. There is a thin lateral white stripe near the anterior of the abdomen on the dorsal side and what seem to be light gray hairs on the ventral side. The basal halves of the 1st pair of wings appear clear, the terminal halves are black, as are the entirety of both of the second pair.

Habitat:

Suburban area on tropical upland plateau.

Notes:

Spotted on a windowsill in the AM, dead. It had died overnight, for it was not there when the adjacent window was closed the previous evening. The first two images are head-on oblique dorsal views; the last two images are ventral views.

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6 Comments

Machi
Machi 4 years ago

You're welcome. Dead specimens can be a challenge!

Allen Hoof
Allen Hoof 4 years ago

Machi, I think you've made the ID. I compared my images with images of Megachile lanata online. Though this species has been observed in Hawaii, I was put off initially because most online images show white hairs between the abdominal segments that I thought were lacking in my images. In closer inspection, my images do have some of those white hairs. I'll agree to your ID until a better candidate appears. Thanks.

Machi
Machi 4 years ago

Allen, I think it could be a Woolly Wall Bee (Megachile lanata) based on the golden thorax and location. I think that the hair may have rubbed off the face, making the appearance look different than ideal specimens, perhaps in its attempts to escape and bumping into the window. I can see some faint golden hairs behind the antennae on the face at least.. To me, that abdomen just screams Megachile. However, I am not making a formal suggestion with the Suggest an ID tool as it is quite beat up looking and also I am not familiar with Hawaiian insects. Just thought I'd throw the suggestion out there as it was my first instinct upon seeing your photos.

Allen Hoof
Allen Hoof 4 years ago

Thanks for the suggestions Machi. I can't find any pictures online of leafcutter bees that resemble the insect in this spotting. I found something close in appearance, Andrena nitida, a mining bee, but it has not been reported in Hawaii as far as I can determine. I think this insect must remain unidentified for now.

Machi
Machi 4 years ago

Or maybe a Cuckoo-leaf-cutter

Machi
Machi 4 years ago

Some sort of leafcutter bee I think

Allen Hoof
Spotted by
Allen Hoof

Mililani, Hawaii, USA

Spotted on Nov 7, 2014
Submitted on Nov 7, 2014

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