Megachile alecto Smith, 1860

59. Megachile alecto Smith, 1860 View in CoL

Megachile alecto Smith, 1860b: 134 View in CoL , ♂.

Type material examined

Lectotype

INDONESIA • ♂; Dor 4 [Dory]; [ 11 Apr.–29 Jul. 1858]; NHMUK, Type 17a 2838 ( lectotype designated by Michener 1965, examined by photograph).

Type locality

Dory [= Dore Bay, now Manokwari, Doberai Peninsula, West Papua].

Notes

Baker (1993: 214–215) wrote the following:

“To account for Smith’s indicated localities there should be a minimum of five specimens present in collections.

UMO

Four specimens standing as alecto in the type collection, all determined by Smith, are labelled:- a) ‘Gil.’ [white disc] and ‘ Megachile Alecto. ♂. Sm.’ [blue paper].

b) ‘M.’ [white disc] and ‘ Megachile Alecto. Sm. ’ [blue paper].

c) ‘Gil.’ [white disc] and ‘ Megachile Alecto. Sm. ♀ ’ [blue paper].

d) ‘M.’ [white disc] and ‘ Megachile Alecto Sm. ’.

Specimens (a) and (b) are ♂♂ of Creightonella frontalis (F., 1804), specimens (c) and (d) ♀♀ of Megachile ( Callochile) foliata Smith, 1860 . Neither of the ♂♂ is from the type locality for alecto , and not one of these specimens can be regarded as a syntype. All four have been labelled as of no type status. [The ‘M.’ of specimens (b) and (d) in this instance indicates Mysol (1860, Allen) rather than Morty: cf. Smith 1871.]

NHM

A ♂ in NHM, labelled ‘Dor 4’ [Dory; white disc], ‘ Megachile Alecto. (rule) Smith’ [Smith], ‘type [MS] F.Sm. Coll. 79.22 [print]’ and ‘ Megachile alecto Sm. Lectotype C.D. Michener 1960’, B.M. Type Hym. 17 a 2838, is apparently the one extant specimen from the type locality, but how it came to be in Smith’s collection rather than Saunders’ is not apparent. It is best regarded as the HOLOTYPE of alecto . Two further specimens in NHM, a ♂ and a ♀ of frontalis, labelled only ‘Ceram’ [blue disc], are, like the Oxford specimens, of no type status. Smith’s localities Ternate (1862) and Morty Island (1865) remain for the present unsupported by specimens”.

Michener (1965: 205) did indeed publish the lectotype designation of this specimen, and whilst we agree with Baker’s reasoning, there is no pressing need to label the NHMUK specimen as the holotype (cf. ICZN recommendation 73F). The specimen also bears an accession label reading “F. Sm. Coll. 79.22” and “type”, indicating that it came from the personal collection of Smith. It may have been retained by him rather than returned to the W.W. Saunders collection.

Examination of Wallace’s 3 rd notebook ( Beccaloni 2025) reveals the following information:

“4. Hymen - at flowers.. flies very rapidly. sting bad Megachile alecto. Sm. ”

This specimen numbering supports the position that the NHMUK is the original specimen collected by Wallace, since it has the correct label number. It is unclear why Wallace wrote that the sting was bad, since the specimen is a male. He may have confused it with another bee collected on the same day, or during the same period.

Current status

Megachile ( Creightonella) frontalis ( Fabricius, 1804) ( Lieftinck 1958; Michener 1965; Ascher & Pickering 2024).

Distribution

Philippines, Indonesia ( Sulawesi, North Maluku, Maluku, Papua s. lat.), Papua New Guinea ( Ascher & Pickering 2024), expanding to the west if M. atrata Smith, 1853 is considered conspecific ( Lieftinck 1958; Baker 1993).