Megachile (Argyropile) parallela Smith, 1853

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 : 38

Megachile (Argyropile) parallela Smith, 1853

Megachile parallela Smith, 1853: 191 . Pearce 2008: 51. Drons 2012: 58. Pearce et al. 2012: 101.

Megachile (Argyropile) parallela ; Mitchell 1937b: 48. Mitchell 1943: 12; 1944: 132; 1962: 159. Butler 1965: 10. Hurd 1979: 2066. Ivanochko 1979: 303. Gonzalez and Griswold 2007: 3 . Gonzalez 2008: 161. Scott et al. 2011: 54. Sheffield et al. 2011: 23. Kuhlman and Burrows 2017: 12. Reese et al. 2018: 21 . Delphia et al. 2019a: 24 . Sheffield and Heron 2019: 69. Engel 2020: 10.

Megachile (Argyropile) asterae Mitchell, 1943: 13 .

Diagnosis. The female of M. parallela can be identified by the upcurve at the apical end of S6, which extends past T6 ( Fig. 7L ) and the appressed white to yellow setae on T6. The male of M. parallela can be identified by the two pairs of prominent teeth on the apical margin of T6, ( Fig. 9C ) and large, semi-circular emargination of the pre-apical carina of T6.

Notes. This species is recorded from localities across Montana ( Fig. 1Z ). Photographs, a full morphological description, and notes on the biology of this soil-nesting species can be found in Sheffield et al. (2011).

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.