Abstract
The invasive giant resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis Smith) was first discovered in North America in 1994. A 2005 study provided the first predictive ecological niche model for any bee species and concluded that M. sculpturalis, then confined to the eastern United States, would eventually spread as far south as southern Florida, as far north as southern Ontario and Nova Scotia, and as far west as South Dakota, western Kansas, and northwestern Texas. Herein I provide the first record of M. sculpturalis from northeastern Kansas, documenting that the species has indeed continued its westward expansion in North America and the new available records entirely correspond to the earlier predictions.
Highlights
The giant resin bee, Megachile (Callomegachile) sculpturalis Smith, a distinctive bee native to eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan: Iwata 1933, Wu 2005, and records in the American Museum of Natural History and University of Kansas Natural History Museum), has become adventive in the eastern United States since its presumably accidental introduction sometime in the early 1990’s (Batra 1998, Mangum & Brooks 1997)
The specimen is deposited in the Snow Entomological Collection, Division of Entomology, University of Kansas Natural History Museum
Based on an ecological niche model of the native-range of the species projected to North America, Hinojosa-Díaz et al (2005) predicted that M. sculpturalis would potentially inhabit the entire eastern half of the United States as far west as western Kansas and northwestern Texas, and as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada (Fig. 2)
Summary
The giant resin bee, Megachile (Callomegachile) sculpturalis Smith, a distinctive bee native to eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan: Iwata 1933, Wu 2005, and records in the American Museum of Natural History and University of Kansas Natural History Museum), has become adventive in the eastern United States since its presumably accidental introduction sometime in the early 1990’s (Batra 1998, Mangum & Brooks 1997). Material Female, Kansas: Douglas County, within Lawrence city limits (adjacent to main University campus), 28 June 2008, I.A. Hinojosa-Díaz (net captured).
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