Megachile pugnata is a species of North American bee in the family Megachilidae. It was described by Say in 1837. Females are 12-18 mm in length while male are somewhat smaller: 11-13 mm. The adults are active from June to September.Discover Life Females of this species are oligolectic on the pollen of plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, and commonly visit ironweeds (e.g. Vernonia fasciculata) for nectar.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Megachile pugnata has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens40
BINs3
Marker genes2
eDNA detections53
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus38 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 96% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 24 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.7%
Haplotypes8
BINs3
Most divergent pair2.6%
N.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P18S-5P
animal barcoderibosomal
07Deep time~22.4 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin22.4 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type2 014 records
Wild obs. + sensor623
Museum / vouchered1 391
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO4 208 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy74% within 1 km
≤100 m 299≤1 km 104≤10 km 19>10 km 121
543 georeferenced · 80 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor623
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy44% within 1 km
≤100 m 44≤1 km 67≤10 km 99>10 km 40
250 georeferenced · 1 141 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 391
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions22 of 44 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Beltsville, US
193
Oregon State Arthropod Collectionlocation not on record
178
Wuzhou, CN
167
US
130
WIlocation not on record
126
67
Cambridge, US
67
Provo, US
45
University Park, US
39
Weber State University, Bird and Mammal Collectionlocation not on record
31
Colorado State Universitylocation not on record
20
OSUClocation not on record
20
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
17
SUNY ESFlocation not on record
14
Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record
14
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
13
White River Junction, US
12
LULlocation not on record
11
Awka, NG
11
Champaign, US
10
Vermont Center for Ecostudieslocation not on record
9
FWSlocation not on record
8
Lexington, US
8
Vancouver, CA
8
UNHClocation not on record
7
Toronto, CA
7
WSUClocation not on record
6
New Haven, US
5
BBSLlocation not on record
5
New Haven, US
5
Chicago, US
5
Blacksburg, US
4
Roberts Creek, CA
4
University of Alabamalocation not on record
3
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
2
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
2
University of Alberta Museums (UAM)location not on record
1
Philadelphia, US
1
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
1
Decorah, US
1
Mississippi State, US
1
College Station, US
1
Biodiversity Institute of Ontariolocation not on record
1
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
1
44 institutions · 1 281 of 1 391 vouchered records shown · 110 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA53 detections
Where the DNA of Megachile pugnata was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found53
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 53 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
Mixed habitatGrasslandPost-fire forestMixed Habitat5. Wetlands (inland)Agricultural field
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median15.7 °C 10.6–21.2
Seasonal swing summer↔winter24.2 °C
Max temp (day)23.4 °C 17.0–27.5
Min temp (night)9.50 °C 4.00–15.1
Precipitation34.9 mm/mo 10.4–105
Air humidity49.1 % 37.2–58.7
Moisture balance-111 mm/mo -192–-20.0
Vapour deficit1,066 Pa 612–1,196
Wind speed2.50 m/s 1.50–5.30
Cloud cover32.0 % 13.1–41.8
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 46 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 014 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI53 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics40 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗