Amegilla albiceps

Tilcayo Cats original · Amegilla · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Amegilla albiceps is an Australian bee in the Asaropoda group of Amegilla. The 2020 revision united three other named forms with it after comparing historical specimens. Its name-bearing male came from Studley Park in Victoria.

Appearance

Females have an orange pollen brush on the hind tibia, narrow yellow marks beside the central face plate and a further pale mark above it. Black hairs occur towards the front of the second upper abdominal plate. Males have a triangular patch of black bristles on the fourth abdominal sternite and a shallow notch on the following plate. These small structures are important to identification.

Names brought together

The revision treated A. dentiventris, A. meltonensis and A. victoriensis as synonyms of A. albiceps. The male underside structures agreed, while the female named meltonensis shared the diagnostic face marks, hind-leg hair colour and abdominal hair pattern. The specimens therefore did not support four separate species.

Flower records

The paper records visits to mistletoes listed as Loranthus preissi and Amyema, and to Eremophila. Such collection records show an association with those flowers. They do not establish an exclusive diet or measure how effectively the bee pollinates them.