David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
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Hymenoptera 49 – Coast Leafcutter Bees
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
COAST
LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile maritima (m)
COAST LEAFCUTTER BEE Megachile
maritima (m)
·
Coast
Leafcutter Bees Megachile maritima
are as their vernacular and specific names might suggest predominantly found at
coastal locations. However, the two rather worn examples shown here were photographed
feeding on Field Scabious Knautia
arvensis at a chalk downland site in Surrey.
The females are difficult to separate from Willughby’s
Leafcutter Bees M. willughbiella but there
are characteristic differences between the males that have enabled an
unequivocal identification to have been made. The males of both species share enlarged
white tarsi with hair fringes (presumably providing a large surface area for
pheromonal signalling) along their posterior but the clinching feature is that
males of M. maritima have swollen, curved hind
femurs and markedly tapered basitarsi (as illustrated in the above photographs).
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