Morphological Description of Some Megachilidae Species in Aljabal Alakhder, Libya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54172/mjsc.v37i2.373Keywords:
Wild Bees, Megachilidae, Morphological Description, Aljabal Alakader, LibyaAbstract
Bees are a large and diverse species of insects belonging to the Hymenoptera order. The family Megachilidae represents a large part of most of the bee fauna all over the world as a result of their importance as pollinators. The study aimed to describe the morphological characteristics of three species of wild bees belonging to Megachile parientina (Geoffroy, 1785), Rhodanthidium sticticum (Fabricius, 1787), and Anthidium diadema Latreille, 1809 in Aljabal Alakder, Libya. Specimens were collected by hand net from different locations in the Aljabal Alakder area (Albayda and Alwastia). The morphological characters were described by using the OPTIC microscope. Measurements were taken at full body length (in cm), front wings length, thorax and abdomen width, body color was taken (head, abdomen, thorax, wings), and the study described in details the morphology of mouthparts, wings venation, antenna and abdominal structure for all species. The morphological structures vary between the different species in color, size, and wings. The body length of M. parientina was 19 mm, R. sticticum was 12 mm, and A. diadema was 13 mm. The study’s conclusion insists on the importance of morphological description studies to facilitate the identification of wild bees species in Libya.
Downloads
References
Almabrouk, M., & Bataw, A. A. (2019). Identification and Morphological Description of Xylocopa species (Xylocopidae: Hymenoptera) in North East of Libya. Al Mukhtar Journal of Science, 34(4), 288-305.
Bosch, J., & Blas, M. (1994). Foraging behaviour and pollinating efficiency of Osmia cornuta and Apis mellifera on almond (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae and Apidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology, 29(1), 1-9.
Bosch, J., & Blas, M. (1994). Foraging behaviour and pollinating efficiency of Osmia cornuta and Apis mellifera on almond (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae and Apidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology, 29(1), 1-9.
Gonzalez, V. H., Griswold, T., Praz, C. J., & Danforth, B. N. (2012). Phylogeny of the bee family Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) based on adult morphology. Systematic Entomology, 37(2), 261-286.
Grace, A. (2010). Introductory biogeography to bees of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. Bexhill Museum Bexhill.
Guiglia, D. (1942). Gli imenotteri della Libia (Sphecidae, Pompilidae, Scoliidae, Vespidae, Apidae). Annali del Museo Libico Di Storia Naturale, 20(3), 228-250.
Henson, K. A., Campbell, J. W., & Kaplan, D. A. (2019). Range extension of Megachile lanata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), a non-native sunn hemp pollinator, in Florida. Florida Entomologist, 102(1), 259-261.
Khalifa, S. A., Elshafiey, E. H., Shetaia, A. A., El-Wahed, A. A. A., Algethami, A. F., Musharraf, S. G., AlAjmi, M. F., Zhao, C., Masry, S. H., & Abdel-Daim, M. M. (2021). Overview of bee pollination and its economic value for crop production. Insects, 12(8), 688.
Litman, J. R., Danforth, B. N., Eardley, C. D., & Praz, C. J. (2011). Why do leafcutter bees cut leaves? New insights into the early evolution of bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1724), 3593-3600.
Michener, C. (2007). The Bees of the World Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore.{Google Scholar}
Michener, C. D., & Griswold, T. L. (1994). The classification of old world Anthidiini (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae). The University of Kansas science bulletin, 55(9), 299.
Özbek, H., & Zanden, G. V. D. (1992). A preliminary review of the Megachilidae of Turkey Part II. Heriadini (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Türkiye Entomoloji Dergisi; Year: 1992 Volume: 16 Number: 3.
Praz, C. J. (2017). Subgeneric classification and biology of the leafcutter and dauber bees (genus Megachile Latreille) of the western Palearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 55, 1.
Sakenin, H., Shaaban, A., Nil, B., Majid, N., Hassan, G., & Siavash, T. (2020). A Faunistic Survey On Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) From Northern Iran. Egypt. J. Plant Prot. Res. Inst, 3(1), 398 – 408.
Shebl, M. A., Abdelkader, F. B., Bendifallah, L., Benachour, K., Bataw, A. A., Bufliga, E. M., Osman, M. A., & Kamel, S. M. (2021). The melittology research in Northern Africa and the Middle East: past and present situations. The Journal of Basic and Applied Zoology, 82(1), 1-11.
Stephen, W. P., Bohart, G. E., & Torchio, P. F. (1969). The Biology and External Morphology of Bees with a Synopsis of the Genera of North-western America.
Trunz, V., Packer, L., Vieu, J., Arrigo, N., & Praz, C. (2016). Comprehensive phylogeny, biogeography and new classification of the diverse bee tribe Megachilini: Can we use DNA barcodes in phylogenies of large genera? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 103, 245-259.
Vicens, N., & Bosch, J. (2000). Pollinating efficacy of Osmia cornuta and Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae, Apidae) on ‘red Delicious’ apple. Environmental Entomology, 29(2), 235-240.
Zakikhani, M., Monfared, A., Mohammadi, H., & Jahromi, A. S. (2021). A survey on Megachilidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) species available in Iranian Pollinator Insects Museum of Yasouj University. Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics, 7(2), 167–204-167–204.
Zavattari, E. (1934). Prodormo della Fauna Della Libia, Pavia.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Marwah Almabrouk
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright of the articles Published by Almukhtar Journal of Science (MJSc) is retained by the author(s), who grant MJSc a license to publish the article. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors and cite MJSc as original publisher. Also they accept the article remains published by MJSc website (except in occasion of a retraction of the article).