Willughby's Leafcutter Bee

Willughby's Leafcutter Bee (a male) is the commonest leafcutter bee.
This species has been sponsored by: 
Jane Tomlinson

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Megachile willughbiella
Family: 
Mason bees
Family Latin name: 
MEGACHILIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

Willughby's Leafcutter Bee is the commonest leafcutter bee and the one most likely to be seen in gardens and parks. It's also a dependable resident of insect hotels.

We have been advised that the individual photographed here (in early June 2024) is a male. Its front leg is widened (just visible in this photograph), indicative of the species whose front tarsi are white with a distinctive posterior fringe.

This species visits bellflowers, bird's-foot trefoils, thistles and brambles (it being photographed here on a bramble leaf).

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
This species visits bellflowers, bird's-foot trefoils, thistles and brambles (it being photographed here on a bramble leaf).

Details

Species family information

Mason bees (also known as leafcutter bees) are mostly solitary bees. Several collect plant or animal hairs to assist in nest construction, whereas other collect plant resin for this purpose. All feed on pollen and nectar, although some of these feed on pollen collected by other bees (and so are called 'cuckoo bees').

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!