Megachile leachella albipila Perez , 1895

Praz, Christophe J. & Benon, Dimitri, 2023, Revision of the leachella group of Megachile subgenus Eutricharaea in the Western Palaearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae): A renewed plea for DNA barcoding type material, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 95, pp. 143-198 : 143

Megachile leachella albipila Perez, 1895 stat. nov.

Megachile albipila Pérez, 1895: 23, ♀ ♂, "Alger [Algeria]". Lectotype ♂ (MNHN); paralectotype ♀ (MNHN), by present designation.

Material examined.

Type material. Lectotype ♂ (MNHN) of M. albipila , a male in good condition, the tip of the abdomen and the extracted genitalia are placed in a transparent vial preserved under the specimen. This lectotype is labeled as follows: 1. [red, circular disc]; 2. “Alger” [handwritten, handwriting of Pérez]; 3. "Museum Paris, Coll. J. Pérez 1915 [printed on blue paper]. 4. " Paralectotype M. albipila Pérez 1896 D. B. Baker des. 1991" [printed and handwritten on blue paper]. 5. " Lectotype Megachile albipila des. C. Praz 2022" [printed and handwritten on red paper]. Paralectotype ♀ (MNHN), also from Alger, labelled as follows: 1. [a green circular disc]; 2. " Alger [handwritten, handwriting of Pérez]; 3. “hôte de [host of] Coelioxys afra " [handwritten]. 4. "Museum Paris, Coll. J. Pérez [printed on blue paper]. 5. Lectotype Megachile albipila Pérez 1896 D. B. Baker des. 1991" [printed and handwritten on red paper]. 6. " Paralectotype Megachile albipila des. C. Praz 2022" [printed and handwritten on red paper]. D. Baker’s lectotype designation has not been published and is not accepted here; the male specimen, designated here as the lectotype, corresponds to the taxon delineated here as a subspecies of M. leachella ; in particular, the short preapical process of the gonostylus is clearly visible. The female specimen, however, may belong to either M. inexspectata or to M. leachella albipila . Based on the punctation of the tergal discs, it rather belongs to M. inexspectata , although this identification is tentative given the difficulties in separating females of these two species. For this reason, the male specimen is designated as the lectotype .

Other material.

44 specimens from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia (Suppl. material 1) .

Distribution.

Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. All males examined from these three countries had the preapical process of the gonostylus short (Fig. 55 ), the feature that characterizes this subspecies. We conclude that the nominal subspecies Megachile leachella leachella s. str. is absent from northwestern Africa.

Figures

Figures 46 - 56. Megachile leachella 46, 47 male metasoma 46 Switzerland, M. leachella leachella 47 Cyprus, M. leachella densipunctata ssp. nov. 48 - 52 male front tarsi 48 UK, M. leachella leachella 49 Switzerland, M. leachella leachella 50 Corsica and Sardinia, M. leachella leachella 51 Crete, M. leachella cretica ssp. nov. 52 Cyprus, M. leachella densipunctata ssp. nov. 53 male sterna 4 - 6 54 - 56 male genitalia 54 UK, M. leachella leachella 55 northwestern Africa, M. leachella albipila 56 Crete, M. leachella cretica ssp. nov.