Project(s) of GTI scholarship holder EARDLEY Connal Desmond

Taxonomic revision of the Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of southern Africa (2007) and of the Afrotropical Apoidea (2012)

Grantee: EARDLEY Connal Desmond

Internship details

  • Years

    2007 and 2012

  • Training location

    Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and Royal Museum for Central Africa

  • Belgian supervisor

    Dr. Grootaert Patrick and Dr. Pauly Alain

  • Studied organism (classification)

    Animalia – Arthropoda – Insecta – Hymenoptera (Apoidea) – Megachilidae

  • Reports

The bee family Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) ranks among the most diverse and most abundant bee taxa in Africa. Also they are important pollinators for crops and wild plants, which creates a big demand for identification services.

J. Pasteels, a Belgian citizen, revised the Megachilidae in 1965 (PASTEELS, J. J. 1965. Revision des Megachilidae (Hymenoptera Apoidea) De L’Afrique Noire. Les Genres Creightoniella, Chalicodoma et Megachile (s. str.). Musee Royal de L’Afrique Centrale- Tervuren, Belgique Annales, Serie In-8- Sciences Zoologiques 137, 1-563). This is an outstanding piece of work dealing with over 500 valid species, but his work has become dated. Also Pasteels did this work when he was old and his eyes were failing, and he missed some important features. New material of many species has been collected and this will help make decisions where he was unable to do so. It is necessary to rerevise the genus.

The Royal Museum for Central Africa and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences both have historical collections that are invaluable to this project. They include, inter alia, type material and other material identified by Pasteels.

This proposal is a request for funds to travel to Belgium to study the material in the two above-mentioned institutes, so that the findings can be incorporated into the planned taxonomic revision. Because of the size of the resulting publication, it will be attempted to be published in Zootaxa, an electronic journal of taxonomy.

Additional documentation

  • Find out more about bees and their services in the 2016 Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, to which C. Eardley contributed
  • Learn more about the taxonomy of the sub-Saharan African bees by checking out Volume 7 (English) and Volume 9 (French) of the series Abc Taxa, entitled “The Bee Genera and Subgenera of sub-Saharan Africa” and “Les genres et sous-genres d’abeilles de l’Afrique subsaharienne”, respectively, to which C. Eardley contributed

Scientific papers

  • Eardley, C. (2018). Taxonomic revision of the sub-Saharan Anthidiellum Cockerell (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4402: 201. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4402.2.1
  • Eardley, C., and Griswold, T. (2018). Taxonomic revision of Cyphanthidium Pasteels (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini), an endemic Afrotropical bee genus. Zootaxa 4450: 26. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4450.1.2
  • Eardley, C., and Griswold, T. (2017). Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical species of Pachyanthidium Friese (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4237: 401. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4237.3.1
  • Gous, A., Willows-Munro, S., Eardley, C., and Swanevelder, Z. H. (2017). Pollination: Impact, role-players, interactions and study – A South African perspective. S. Afr. J. Sci. 113, 1–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2017/20160303
  • Eardley, C., and Griswold, T. (2016). Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical bee genus Serapista Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini). Zootaxa 4111: 334. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4111.4.2
  • Eardley, C., and Griswold, T. (2015). Taxonomic revision of Plesianthidium Cameron (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Anthidiini), an endemic southern African bee genus. Zootaxa 3973, 1–56. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3973.1.1
  • Pauly, A., Nzigidahera, B., Eardley, C., Ndayikeza, L., Mpawenimana, A., and Habonimana, B. (2015). Les abeilles du genre Xylocopa Latreille (Hymenoptera : Apoidea : Apidae) au Burundi, de bons pollinisateurs pour des légumineuses. Belg. J. Entomol. 25, 1–27. http://www.srbe-kbve.be/cm/belgian-journal-entomology-2015
  • Eardley, C. (2013). A taxonomic revision of the southern African leaf-cutter bees, Megachile Latreille sensu stricto and Heriadopsis Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3601, 1–134. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3601.1.1
  • Eardley, C. (2012). A taxonomic revision of the southern African species of dauber bees in the genus Megachile Latreille (Apoidea: Megachilidae). Zootaxa 3460, 1–139. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3460.1.1
  • Eardley, C. (2012). A taxonomic revision of the southern African species of the subgenus Creightonella Cockerell (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachile Latreille). Zootaxa 3159, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3159.1.1