551 



Notes on the Hawaiian Bees of the Genus Megachile 

 (Hymenoptera). 



l;V p. II. TI.Ml'.ERLAKE. 



The discovery of a fifth species of Megachile on Oahu 

 brings u]) the (juestion of ihe endemicity of these bees. Dr. 

 Perkins in the Introduction to the I-'auna Hawaiiensis (\'ol. T, 

 part 6, p. Ixxxiii, 1^)13) considers that the three species then 

 known were probably all introduced, two of these, }fcgac!iile 

 palniannii Perkins, and .1/. schaninshmdi Alfken. being" in fact 

 at that time recent immigrants. A little later as recorded in 

 a footnote on p. Ixxiii, he states that palinaruui was known to 

 him from California and schauinslaudi from China. ^Meade- 

 Waldo (Ann. and Mag-. Nat. Hist. (8). 10, p. 464, 1912) also 

 records a male Megachile from Dehra Dun, India, which had 

 been determined previously by Dr. Perkins as schauinslaudi.'''' 



Megachile diligeus Smith, and fiinberlakei Cockcrell, have 

 never been taken elsewhere, but this surely is no proof of their 

 endemicity and they will probably be identified from other parts 

 of the world sooner or later. 



* Since tlie aljovo statement was written, a note by Dr. Coekerell has 

 been seen (Ann. and Mag'. Nat. Hist. (9), 2, p. 388, 1918), in which the 

 synonymy of M. scTianinslaiidi with M. idnhripennis Smith is mentioned, 

 based on a determination tiy Friese in whicli Coekerell concurs. ,1/. nm- 

 hripejinis was descril^ed from the northern jiart of India and has been 

 recorded from Nepal, Sikkim and Tenasserim. It is said to have a nar- 

 row, fulvous marginal fringe on the second and third lerijites of tlie 

 abdomen, usually mucli olditerated, especially on tli(> thir<l seo'inent; and 

 a short, Avhite marginal fringe on tlie sides of the fourth and fifth 

 tergites. Local specimens of xclKiitiiishiinli lKi\-e a '^hort. | ale fuhous, 

 marginal fringe on the sides of the second tergite; sini'lar, but white, 

 fringes on the third and fourth tergites, and a complete narrow, wliite 

 fringe across the apical margin of the fifth tergit(\ .\s Hawai'an sjx'ci- 

 mens show no variation in these characters, I am disposed to accord tlie 

 difference considerable weight, allhough they may finally ]»ro\e to be. 

 only sub-specific. Tt seetns probal)l<> that our sjxM'ies was introduced from 

 China rather than from India, and until it can be shown liiat there is 

 intergradation in the above characters it woiiM be better to consider 

 schauinsknuli distinct. 



Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc. IV, No. 3, September, 1921. 



