Amegilla preissi

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

Amegilla preissi is a grey-haired bee of south-western Western Australia. Older literature sometimes applied its name to bees from south-eastern Queensland. The 2020 revision identified those Queensland bees as the separate species A. froggatti, spelt frogatti in that paper.

Identification

Females lack pale marks beside and above the central face plate. Their hind-leg pollen brush is grey-white, and a narrow band of black hairs runs across the front of the second upper abdominal plate. Males have a rectangular patch of dark and light brown bristles on the fourth abdominal sternite. These characters help separate the species from its grey-looking relative A. froggatti.

Names and distribution

Cockerell described preissi in 1910. The 2020 revision placed A. sordidula, A. sordida and A. grisescens in synonymy with it. Female type specimens lacked consistent distinguishing features, while series containing both sexes helped associate the males and females under one name.

The revision's restricted south-western range is therefore tied to a clarified species concept, rather than a claim that a formerly widespread population had disappeared from Queensland.

Flower record

The paper records visits to the tree listed there as Eucalyptus calophylla. This is a documented flower association, not a complete feeding account or evidence of specialisation.