Megachile (Megachiloides) anograe Cockerell, 1908

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 : 28

Megachile (Megachiloides) anograe Cockerell, 1908

Megachile anograe Cockerell, 1908: 261 . Adhikari et al. 2019: Supplementary Table S4.

Megachile (Derotropis) anograe ; Mitchell 1936: 158; 1944: 142. Hurd 1979: 2062. Ivanochko 1979: 257.

Megachile (Megachiloides) anograe ; Raw 2002: 16 . Scott et al. 2011: 55. Sheffield et al. 2011: 52. Delphia et al. 2019a: 25 . Megachile (Derotropis) laurita Mitchell, 1927a: 115 ; 1936: 160.

Megachile (Megachiloides) laurita : Raw 2002: 18 .

Megachile (Xeromegachile) alamosana Mitchell, 1934: 329 .

Megachile (Derotropis) alamosana ; Mitchell 1936: 158; 1937a: 330; 1944: 142.

Megachile (Megachiloides) alamosana ; Raw 2002: 16 . Scott et al. 2011: 55.

Diagnosis. The female of M. anograe can be distinguished by its 3-toothed mandibles ( Fig. 7A ) and a smooth and shiny T6 with well-separated punctures (3–5 diameters apart). For information on the rare melanistic form (not seen in Montana) see Taxonomic Challenges. In Montana, females of this species are only likely to be confused with M. pascoensis , which also has 3-toothed mandibles, but in M. pascoensis T6 is pitted and dull with closely spaced punctures (≤ 1 diameter apart). The male of M. anograe can be distinguished by its wide and spatulate procoxal spine ( Fig. 8I ), medially and laterally emarginate clypeus ( Fig. 10B ), fovea on the dorsal metafemur, and apicomedial setal patch on S5 ( Fig. 10G ). Males of M. anograe are most similar to M. pascoensis , but the clypeal margin is much more deeply emarginate medially in M. pascoensis ( Fig. 10A ). For further details on identification issues see Taxonomic Challenges.

Notes. At the continental scale, M. anograe and M. pascoensis are in general allopatric, with M. anograe east of the continental divide and M. pascoensis to the west. This division so far holds in Montana. Megachile anograe is the more common of the two in Montana, occurring in the drier southern and central counties east of the divide ( Fig. 1B ) while the rarer M. pascoensis is known only from the wetter northwest Montana west of the divide ( Fig. 1 AA). Sheffield et al. (2011) report melanistic forms in the western U.S., though we did not find them in Montana. 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 8. Male Megachile characters. (A) Probasitarsus not expanded or excavated ventrally, (B) Probasitarsus widely expanded and excavated ventrally, (C–E) Anterior view of mesobasitarsus and mesotibia, (F) Lateral view of triangular metatarsomeres on M. manifesta, (G) Lateral view of quadrate metatarsomeres on M. wheeleri, (H) Ventral view of procoxal spine, longer than wide, (I) Ventral view of procoxal spine, wide and spatulate, (J–L) Dorsal view of vertex of head: (J) Ocelloccipital distance longer than ocellocular distance, (K) Ocelloccipital distance equal to ocellocular distance, and (L) Ocelloccipital distance shorter than ocellocular distance.

FIGURE 10. Male Megachile characters. (A–C) Anterior view of clypeus: (A) M. pascoensis, (B) M. anograe, (C) M. casadae, (D) Lateral view of tergites on M. dakotensis, (E) Lateral view of tergites on M. onobrychidis, (F) Ventral view of sternites without apicomedial setal patch on S5, (G) Ventral view of sternites of M. anograe with apicomedial setal patch on S5, (H) Lateral view of genal margin with tooth at least as long as wide, and (I) Lateral view of genal margin without obvious tooth.