Leafcutter

My identification app says that this is Megachile willughbiella, but I don't think it is. Far be it from me, etc., etc., but I think I can reasonably claim to know a M. willughbiella when I see one, because I get so many of them in my garden. I'd go as far as to say that from late July through August they're the main solitary bee here, and when they're frantically working the perennial pea they're an irresistibly attractive subject, and I photograph them a lot.

So, what's wrong with this one? Firstly, she's bigger than I expect a female M. willughbiella to be - though that's highly subjective, obviously, and there's not all that much measured difference between the two species. Secondly, she's browner: fresh M. willughbiella females are almost gaudy, and even as they age and bleach, there's still a distinct touch of the ginger about them. Thirdly, and crucially, her scopa - the pollen brush underneath her abdomen - is wrong: in M. willughbiella it's a bright orangey red at the base and black at the apex, and even though the scopa is partly obscured by pollen in this photo, I can tell you that in this bee it's more a kind of two-tone browny-orange, with just a few black hairs at the tip.

I've seen a few bees like this over the past couple of weeks, and I've been puzzling over what they could be, but today I think I've worked it out. At the beginning of the month a male leafcutter turned up in my garden, which I identified from the odd little notch at the end of his abdomen as Megachile ligniseca - Crash Bandicoot dance time, because I'd never encountered this species before. I've seen him, or one of his brothers, a few times since then, but he's shy and retiring, and doesn't like having a camera pointed at him, so I've never managed anything better than record shots. Today though, he zoomed towards me and the camera in his ardent desire to jump this female.... and guess what? Falk says that female M. ligniseca are the largest of our Megachile leafcutters, and their scopa is mostly buff coloured, with black hairs at the tip.

Bingo. It's always a good day when I learn something new.

R: C4, D4.