Megachile (Litomegachile) snowi Mitchell, 1927

Pritchard, Zoe A., Ivie, Michael A., O’Neill, Kevin M. & Delphia, Casey M., 2025, A faunal treatment of the Megachile (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) of Montana with a key for their identification, Zootaxa 5683 (1), pp. 1-51 : 40

Megachile (Litomegachile) snowi Mitchell, 1927

Megachile mendica snowi Mitchell, 1927: 113 .

Megachile (Litomegachile) mendica snowi ; Mitchell 1935a: 31. Butler 1965: 4. Scott et al. 2011: 55.

Megachile (Litomegachile) snowi ; Bzdyk 2012: 55 . Sheffield and Heron 2019: 70.

Diagnosis. The female of M. snowi can be identified by its mostly yellow to orange scopal setae on S6, white to golden appressed setae on T6, T6 straight (viewed laterally) ( Fig. 7J ), and 4-toothed mandibles with an angulate basal mandibular tooth, appearing as a weak additional tooth (i.e., 5-toothed) ( Fig. 7D ). The female of M. snowi is most similar to M. mendica (see M. mendica above). The male of M. snowi can be identified by its white apical setal band on T5 and by the apical margin of T6 (ventrad the transverse carina), which has submedian teeth that are either closer to each other than to the lateral teeth or all teeth are subequal to each other ( Fig. 9E ). Males of M. snowi are most similar to M. mendica (see M. mendica above).

Notes. This species is a new state record for Montana. Megachile snowi , a now-recognized species previously recognized as a subspecies of M. mendica , has only been collected from one locality in eastern Montana, a northern extension of its known range ( Fig. 1 AF). Illustrations and a full morphological description can be found in Bzdyk (2012).

Figures

FIGURE 1. County-level distribution of each Megachile species in Montana. Females identified as Megachile latimanus/ Megachile perihirta (and data without recorded specimen sexes) are counted here as M. perihirta as they are not distinguishable from one another in Montana. Males identified as Megachile lapponica/Megachile relativa (and data without recorded specimen sexes) are counted here as M. relativa as they are not distinguishable from one another in Montana. Mitchell county records are included on maps but not in specimen counts. Two specimens did not have county-level localities and are not included in maps but are included in specimen counts.

FIGURE 7. Female Megachile characters. (A–H) Anterolateral view of mandible, (I–N) Lateral view of metasoma, tergites 4–6, (O) Lateral view of tergites on M. dakotensis, and (P) Lateral view of head with pronounced tooth on the posterior genal margin on M. pugnata.

FIGURE 9. Male Megachile T6 characters. (A–B) Transverse carina, (C) Apical margin with two pairs of prominent teeth on M. parallela, (D) Apical margin with two pairs of small teeth, (E) Apical margin (ventrad the transverse carina) with submedian teeth closer to each other than to lateral teeth, and (F) Apical margin (ventrad to the transverse carina) with submedian teeth closer to lateral teeth than to each other.