Amegilla crenata

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

Amegilla crenata is an orange-haired Australian bee described in 2020. The specimens establishing its name were collected at Wongalara Station in the Northern Territory in May 2012, on Melastoma flowers.

Identification and name

Orange hair covers most of the body in both sexes. Females have an orange hind-leg pollen brush and no black hair band at the front of the second upper abdominal plate. Males have a deep, parallel-sided notch in the fifth abdominal sternite. The species name refers to that notch, a feature used in specialist identification.

The revision examined 18 males and 15 females and recorded visits to Trichodesma zeylanicum, Melastoma, Calytrix and Acacia. These observations document flower use without establishing the bee's complete diet or the details of its nests.