Fideliinae Lithurginae Parharhophitinae Megachilinae Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees.

The motion of Megachilidae in the reproductive structures of flowers is energetic and swimming-like; this agitation releases large amounts of pollen.

Some embed individual cells in a mass of clay or resin attached to a wall, rock surface, or plant stem.

In 1921, the journal American Museum Novitates published a preliminary report on parasitic megachilid bees of the western United States.

[3] North America has an estimated 630 different megachilid species, including Megachile, Anthidium, Hoplitis, and Osmia.

Most Megachilidae are native, and a few are introduced, accidentally and intentionally; globally the number of species identified exceeds 4,000.

manicatum, the European wool carder bee, was accidentally introduced to the Americas in the late '60s and has now spread across the continent.

[8] It is atypical because the male is larger than the female and constantly on patrol, protecting a "harem" by chasing and even attacking all interlopers including honey and bumble bees, its tail equipped with multiple prongs that can knife in between the segments of almost any intruder.

Mason bees, not commonly cultivated, are known through extended observation and writings in the last half of the 19th century by Jean-Henri Fabre, with his writings made further famous by his English translator Alexander Teixeira de Mattos ("The Mason Bee"); Fabre wrote many observations, including of other Megachilidae, from his home in France, and his writings inspired many future researchers and enthusiasts, from Charles Darwin to Gerald Durrell.