Bee

Megachile (Litomegachile) gentilis Cresson

This is a polylectic species ranging from the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, Oregon) to the desert Southwest (southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) and is adventive in Hawaii. It has been taken in flight from early April to early October (southern California). Butler (1965) records it from Larrea in Arizona, along with many other desert host plants, but does not give the locality or whether or not the bees were taking pollen. Our own Larrea samples have, for example, yielded occasional males and sometimes many pollen-collecting, as well as nectar-seeking, females (Tables 5, 7, 9).

Megachile gentilis nests in stems of elderberry (Sambucus), (Bechtel 1958) and other sites above ground. The females cut nest linings from a variety of leaves, including Amaranthus, Boerhaavia, and Fraxinus (Butler, 1965). Bechtel (1958) reared Coelioxys novomexicana Cockerell from several cell series. Krombein (1967) records this species as a frequent nester in trap-nests in Arizona.