Checklist of bees (Apoidea) from a private conservation property in west-central Montana

BACKGROUND Here we present preliminary results from the first three years of a long-term bee survey conducted at a 3,840-ha private conservation property in the northern Sapphire Mountains and Bitterroot River Valley, and a pilot study at an associated 80-ha property in the Swan River Valley, Missoula County, Montana, USA. The survey includes hand-net, bowl-trap, and blue-vane trap collections. The resulting checklist comprises 229 bee species and morphospecies within 5 families, 38 genera and 91 subgenera. Of the total species in the list, 34 of them represent first state records Montana. This survey expands the number of bee species recorded in Montana to 366. Included in these species is Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, showing a range expansion for this introduced bee. NEW INFORMATION We present new distributional records for 34 bee species, including Megachile (Eutricharaea) apicalis Spinola, an introduced bee that was discovered to be resident in North America in 1984 in Santa Barbara County, California. This species has since expanded its range in the across the west, but had not been previously recorded in Montana.