Megachile (Amegachile) bicolor Fabricius, 1781

Megachile (Amegachile) bicolor Fabricius, 1781

Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Megachilini: Megachile: Amegachile

Apis bicolor Fabricius, 1781
Apis albiventris Christ, 1791
Anthophora bicolor Fabricius, 1804
Megachile bicolor Lepeletier, 1841
Megachile (Amegachile) bicolor kagiana Cockerell, 1911
Megachile (Amegachile) bicolor honei Hedicke, 1940

INDIA: Chhattisgarh: Ambikapur, 25-30.ix.2019, 1♀, sweep net, coll. Bhojeshwari Sahu; Barnawapara wildlife sanctuary, 14-18.viii.2019, 1♂, sweep net, coll. Bhojeshwari Sahu; Bhoramdev wildlife sanctuary, 18.ii.2020, 1♂ sweep net, coll. Bhojeshwari Sahu.

Female:
General description: Body length 20.26 mm, black.
Colour: Body black with white pubescence on face and orange fulvous pubescence on metasoma, antennae black, leg black, tegulae dark brown.
Head: Face with dense white pubescence on frons and gena; supraclypeal region ridged; clypeus finely punctate with longitudinal depressed impunctate line medially. The inter antennal distance is greater than inter ocellar distance; mandible four dentate with cutting edges on 3rd and 4th interspace remaining interspace fused together; F1 slightly longer than pedicel.
Mesosoma: Scutum finely punctate with mixed black and white pubescence on anterio-lateral margin; scutellum with reddish to dark brown pubescence posteriorly, with punctuation, slightly ridged and hanging on metanotum; tegulae dark brown; legs black, forelegs and midlegs with small black hairs, hindlegs with pale white small dense hairs on tibia and tarsi, claws simple, dark brown; wings fusco-hyaline.
Metasoma: T1-T5 covered with bright orange pubescence, T6 covered with dark brown suberect pubescence; pale white sternal scopa present on S2-S5, S6 sparsely covered with black small hairs.
Male:
General description: Body length 15.94 mm, smaller than female, body black with yellow pubescence on metasoma.
Colour: Body black with white pubescence on face and orange fulvous pubescence on metasoma, antennae black, leg black, tegulae dark brown.
Head: Pale white to yellowish dense pubescence on the face, gena and hypostomal area; inter antennal distance is larger than inter ocellar distance; clypeus finely punctate, slightly convex at the base and concave medially beneath dense hairs; mandible four dentate.
Mesosoma: Pubescence on mesosoma similar to female; forelegs pale testaceous ventrally, dorsal surface of fore femora fulvous red, fore coxae with spine and white pubescence, one black spot with red ring present on center of fore basitarsus, femora swollen, claws cleft, midlegs and hindlegs black with long white hairs on tarsal segments; wings flavohyaline.
Metasoma: T6 covered with fulvous red to white pubescence, T6 with sparsely distributed spines; S1-S4 exposed, fringed with whitish pubescence; S8 slightly incurved at anterior margin, spiculum U-shaped.
Genitalia: Gonostylus with sparse hairs on inner surface; brush of hairs on distal part and extended misally; inner surface of the penis valve somewhat curved from subapical to basal.

M. bicolor may be confused with some species like M. eurimera due to similar metasomal pubescence and M. saigonensis due to inner margin of gonostylus distally looks like a hammer head. However, M. bicolor can be differentiated with M. saigonensis by apical pubescent bands on metasoma which are absent in M. bicolor and M. bicolor can be differentiated with M. eurimera by mandibular cutting edge completely filling second and third interspaces and white sternal scopa which is yellow in M. eurimera.

India: Chhattisgarh, Jammu, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan.
Global: Hong Kong, China, Thailand, India, Japan, Pakistan, Southern Asia.

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Yasumatsu K. & Hirashima Y. (2011). Red-haired leaf-cutter bees of the group of Megachile bicolor from japan, the Ryukyus and Formosa (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). Bulletin of the Bio-geographical Society of Japan, 66, 257-260, 12-20.