Megandrena enceliae (Cockerell 1927)

Megandrena enceliae Cockerell

This species was originally described from two males collected from flowers of Encelia farinosa (Compositae) from near Salt Creek (Salton Creek, Riverside County), California, by P. H. Timberlake (Cockerell, 1927). We have found it to be a rather widespread Larrea-visiting species in the Sonoran Desert of southern California and Arizona, primarily flying in March and April. We have seen males and females (without pollen) from west of Stanfield, Pinal County, Arizona, taken on 11 April 1955 by Butler and Werner, and in the Larrea bee surveys of 1972 G. E. Bohart found the species at the Silverbell IBP study area northwest of Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, Picacho State Park, Pinal County, Arizona, Gila Bend, Maricopa County, Arizona, and 22 miles south of Salome, Yuma County, Arizona. He found females gathering Larrea pollen at both Silverbell and Salome. At the latter locality he observed females taking pollen over a 12-hour period, from 0700 to 1900, just before sunset (Table 14). The principal pollinators associated with Megandrena at this site were Ancylandrena larreae, Heteranthidium larreae, Colletes salicicola, and C. clypeonitens, although other bees were present in smaller numbers.

In the spring of 1952 (April) at Hopkins Well, 18 miles west of Blythe, California, hundreds of males were found in the partially closed flowers of Geraea canescens, following the appearance of an early afternoon light rain, which persisted off and on well into the night. The bees were still present in these flowers early the next morning, but as the sky cleared and as the temperature rose during the morning, they resumed flight about the Larrea plants, where they were frequently observed sipping nectar and attempting to mate or mating with the females.

Megandrena enceliae, the encelia megandrena, is a species of mining bee in the family Andrenidae. It is found in North America.