Amegilla sinewita

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

Amegilla sinewita is a bee described in 2026 from a female collected on Mount Sinewit, New Britain, Papua New Guinea. It has golden-brown body hair, an orange-marked antennal base and narrow golden-orange abdominal bands. Its name comes from the mountain.

Identification

The known female is 17 mm long. Black hairs cover about 70 per cent of the second upper abdominal plate, leaving a golden-orange band over the remainder. The upper thorax has dense surface punctures whose borders are difficult to distinguish, with dull to weakly shining spaces between them.

It resembles both A. bombiformis and A. angustissima. The first has more extensive orange abdominal hair. The second has a dark antennal base and an even narrower orange band, as well as clearer thoracic punctures. Wood used these features together in the identification key.

Collection history

W. W. Brandt collected the name-bearing female between June and September 1963 at a labelled elevation of 3,500 feet, approximately 1,070 m. That is the collection elevation, not the summit height of Mount Sinewit. The specimen is held in the Australian National Insect Collection.

The original description knew no male and supplied no nesting or flower-use observations for the species. A single mountain record does not establish its total range, rarity or threat status.