Species Megachile aurifrons Smith, 1853

Museums

Regional Maps

• Megachile aurifrons Smith, F. 1853. Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part I. Andrenidae and Apidae. London : British Museum 197 pp. [Date published 31/12/1853] [168].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH Hym.17.a.2307 ♀, Australia (as New Holland).
• Megachile oculipes Cockerell, T.D.A. 1910. Descriptions and records of bees. XXXIII. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 6: 356-366 [Date published 31/12/1910] [363].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH Hym.17.a.2296 ♂, Townsville, QLD.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• King, J. 1994. The bee family Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in Australia. I. Morphology of the genus Chalicodoma Lepeletier, and a revision of the subgenus Hackeriapis Cockerell. Invertebrate Taxonomy 8(6): 1373-1419 [1380]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: mellivore, solitary, volant.

Larva: sedentary.

Extra Ecological Information

Nest in abandoned mud-wasp cells, lined and closed with chewed leaf pulp or resin, or often in existing cavities such as holes in fence posts, mortar or sandstone.

General References

Cockerell, T.D.A. 1910. Descriptions and records of bees. XXXII. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 8 6: 272-284 [Date published 31/12/1910] (description of female)

Cockerell, T.D.A. 1930. The bees of Australia. The Australian Zoologist 6: 137-156, 205-236 [Date published 31/12/1930] (distribution)

Dollin, A., Batley, M., Robinson, M. & Faulkner, B. 2000. Native Bees of the Sydney Region. A Field Guide. North Richmond, NSW : Australian Native Bee Research Centre 70 pp. [45] (biology)

King, J. 1986. The systematics of some Australian Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Unpubl. PhD Thesis. Brisbane : Univ. of Queensland. 439 pp. (distribution)

King, J. 1994. The bee family Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in Australia. I. Morphology of the genus Chalicodoma Lepeletier, and a revision of the subgenus Hackeriapis Cockerell. Invertebrate Taxonomy 8(6): 1373-1419 [1380] (morphology, as Chalicodoma aurifrons; not included in Hackeriapis)

Rayment, T. 1956. Some have eyes—others have none. Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1954–1955: 50-54 [Date published 31/12/1956] (biology)

Wylie, F.R., Walsh, G.L. & Yule, R.A. 1987. Insect damage to aboriginal relics at burial and rock-art sites near Carnarvon in central Queensland. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 26: 335-345 [Date published 31/12/1987] (biology)

History of changes