66. Megachile aterrima Smith, 1862

Fig. 64

Megachile aterrima Smith, 1862: 60, ♀.

Type material examined

Holotype

INDONESIA • ♀; Tond. [ Tondano, Sulawesi]; [10 Jun.–23 Sep. 1859]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2820.

Type locality

Celebes (Tondano).

Notes

Baker (1993: 223) wrote the following:

“A ♀ in the UMO type collection, labelled ‘Tond.’ [white disc] and ‘ Megachile aterrima Smith. ’, is the HOLOTYPE of this species and it has now been labelled accordingly. It is substantially intact and in good condition. Two ♀♀ in NHM, labelled ‘ Celebes / 5 5 2 2 ’, are not conspecific with the Oxford ♀ but are Creightonella frontalis (F., 1804)”.

Wallace was in Manado on Sulawesi between 10 Jun.–23 Sep. 1859, and Tondano is some 20 kilometers to the south-east of this city.

Current status

Megachile (Alocanthedon) aterrima Smith, 1862 . Ascher & Pickering (2024) list this species as part of the subgenus Callomegachile Michener, 1962 . However, they were separated into the subgenus Alocanthedon Engel & Gonzalez, 2011 that was first outlined by Baker (1993: 108). Given the distinctive morphology of this group, we list M. aterrima within this subgenus.

Distribution

Indonesia (Sulawesi) (Smith 1862; Baker 1993; Engel & Gonzalez 2011).