The Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee is mainly black with light bands across the abdomen. The underside of the bee is covered with pale hairs. Females have a more pointed abdomen than the male and have a patch of white bristles under the abdomen used to carry pollen. (Alfalfa Leafcutter Bees use their abdomen to collect pollen - not the sides of their legs like honey bees). The leafcutter bee Megachile rotundata was introduced into Australia in the 1980s for lucerne pollination. In some countries, the Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee is a commercially valuable pollinator of alfalfa, and shelters are built with thousands of artificial nesting holes drilled in boards or blocks of polystyrene.