Megachile parietina (Geoffroy, 1785), a new addition to the bee fauna of the Maltese Islands (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae)

Abstract

Megachile parietina (Geoffroy, 1785), the black mud bee, is recorded from the Maltese Islands for the first time on the basis of two adult nesting females and four nests from Pembroke (north-east of Malta). This addition to the Maltese entomofauna brings the number of bees known from the archipelago to 106. The possibility that this species could be a suitable pollinator of the endemic orchid Ophrys melitensis (Salk.) Devillers-Terschuren & Devillers, 1994 is discussed, and further investigation is encouraged.