Amegilla flava

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

Amegilla flava is a bee of southern temperate Australia. A 2020 revision restored it as a distinct species after it had previously been placed under A. scymna. The revision also treated A. cygni and A. rickae as names for the same species as A. flava.

Appearance

Females usually have black areas beside and above the central face plate, a pale yellow or ochre hind-leg pollen brush, and no black hair band at the front of the second upper abdominal plate. The name-bearing female has a small pale facial mark absent from the other females examined, illustrating variation within the species. Males have a rectangular patch of light brown bristles on the fourth abdominal sternite.

Evidence for the name

Friese described flava in 1911 from a female labelled from Fremantle. The 2020 revisers compared historical specimens with a series from Mount Wedge, South Australia, in which DNA helped associate males and females. Their results supported bringing the male name cygni and female name rickae together under flava.

Flowers

The revision records flower visits to Eremophila, Eucalyptus oleosa and Melaleuca subfalcata. It does not establish an exclusive relationship with any of these plants. The species' broad southern distribution should also be distinguished from the locality of the individual specimen that anchors its name.