The giant resin bee making its way west: First record in Kansas (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

The invasive giant resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis Smith) was first discovered in North America in 1994. A 2005 study provided the first predictive ecological niche model for any bee species and concluded that M. sculpturalis, then confined to the eastern United States, would eventually spread as far south as southern Florida, as far north as southern Ontario and Nova Scotia, and as far west as South Dakota, western Kansas, and northwestern Texas. Herein I provide the first record of M. sculpturalis from northeastern Kansas, documenting that the species has indeed continued its westward expansion in North America and the new available records entirely correspond to the earlier predictions