Megachile willughbiella

Megachile willughbiella, Willughby's leaf-cutter bee is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae.^[1] It was described by the English entomologist William Kirby in 1802; he named it in honour of the ornithologist Francis Willughby.^[1][2]

Megachile willughbiella
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Megachilidae
Genus:	Megachile
Species:	M. willughbiella
Binomial name
Megachile willughbiella (Kirby, 1802)
Synonyms
Megachile atriventris Schenk 1853

Description

Megachile willughbiella is a leafcutter bee found in gardens and brownfield areas especially in cities. The nest is built in soil or in wood; the cells are made of leaves. The species has kleptoparasites from the leafcutting cuckoo bee genus Coelioxys, such as C. quadridentata, C. rufescens and C. elongata. Pollen is collected from a wide variety of flowers including Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Onagraceae, with a preference for Campanulaceae (bellflowers).^[3]

Distribution

The species is widely spread across western Europe between Finland, Lithuania and Spain, including Britain and Ireland. In Britain it is one of the most commonly recorded leafcutter species; it is absent from the north Midlands and from mid- and north Wales, but occurs from Cornwall all the way to Inverness, becoming scarcer with latitude.^[3]