Adults are roughly 10–16 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Megachile rufipes
A solitary bee that cuts living leaves into measured pieces, carries pollen beneath its abdomen and builds a nursery from overlapping green panels.
About this species
Megachile rufipes(Fabricius, 1781)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Megachile rufipes is an African leafcutter bee. Each female works alone, collecting pollen and constructing a sequence of leaf-lined brood cells rather than sharing a wax comb with thousands of workers.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Megachilidae · Megachile
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Sub-Saharan AfricaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Warm woodland, farmland, gardens and forest edge with flowers and nest cavities.
Diurnal, active in sunshine.
Pollen and nectar; females provision each brood cell with a pollen loaf.
Solitary, although many females may nest close together.
What makes this species remarkable?
The female cuts near-circular and oval pieces from fresh leaves, flies with each piece clasped beneath her body and overlaps them into a waterproof thimble-shaped cell without glue or wax.
Instead of packing pollen onto the hind legs like a honeybee, she carries it on a dense abdominal brush called a scopa, so the underside of the bee can become brightly dusted while the legs remain free for construction.
Field studies recorded M. rufipes visiting French bean flowers and crop-pollination trials, meaning one female’s repeated solitary journeys can transfer pollen between food plants while she provisions only her own offspring.
Sources and scientific references
- GBIF — taxon record/search for Megachile rufipes
- Catalogue of Life — taxon search for Megachile rufipes
- African Megachile catalogue and distribution records for M. rufipes
- Field study recording Megachile rufipes on French bean flowers
- Taxonomic study of Pseudomegachile including M. rufipes and nesting-biology context