Three new species of Euglossa Latreille (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Brazil
Author
Nemésio, André
text
Zootaxa
2007
1547
21
31
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.273883
aa4674af-31dd-474a-8bda-5aef7a06ea30
1175-5326
273883
Euglossa solangeae
Nemésio
sp. n.
Diagnosis (male characters)
. This species can be distinguished from other
Euglossa
species by the following character combination: anterior tuft of mesotibia entire, subtriangular, and, at most, of same size as posterior tuft; hairs of anterior mid-tibial tuft longer and paler than those of posterior tuft (
Figure 2
C and 2E); mid basitarsus with internal keel; metatibia triangular (
Figure 2
D); punctation of T5 and T6 dense, punctures circular and small (
Figure 2
G); two mandibular teeth; sternal tufts small and widely separated; extended tongue in repose reaching the apex of the metasoma (
Figure 2A
); complete ivory paraocular markings (
Figure 2
B). This species is very similar to both
E. stellfeldi
and
E. annectans
. It can be readily distinguished from
E. stellfeldi
due to its dark blue to violet clypeus and due to the shape and size of the mid-tibial tufts (in
E. stellfeldi
the anterior tuft is larger than the posterior one and this latter tuft is oval—see
Dressler 1982a
).
Euglossa annectans
and
E. solangeae
sp. n.
share a blue clypeus, but the anterior mid-tibial tuft is much larger than the posterior one and is oval in shape in
E. annectans
(
Figure 2
F). Punctation of T5 and T6 is also quite different in both species: in
E. solangeae
sp. n.
punctures are small and rounded on both T5 and T6 (
Figure 2
G); in
E. annectans
they are medium-sized and hexagonal on T5 and larger and elongate on T6 (
Figure 2
H).
Male
Color and vestiture.
Uniformly greenish-blue (
Figure 2A
); clypeus dark blue (
Figure 2
B). Wings pale brown. Pubescence very sparse, black and fulvous hairs evenly distributed on mesosoma; predominantly fulvous hairs on rest of body. Ivory paraocular markings well developed, reaching malar area; anterior surface of antennal scape with white stripe occupying almost all its length (
Figure 2
B).
Head.
Width 5.0 mm; interorbital distance at level of antennal sockets
2.8 mm
; maximum interorbital distance 3.0 mm; scape
0.9 mm
; eye length
3.3 mm
; mandible with two teeth.
Body.
Body length ca.
13.5 mm
; anterior wing ca.
9.7 mm
; tongue in repose reaching apex of metasoma; scutellum
3.3 mm
wide and
1.2 mm
long; abdominal width
5.2 mm
.
Legs.
Foretibia and forebasitarsus fringed with long, dense, fulvous and black hairs; velvet area covering ventral side of mesotibia, posterior and anterior mid-tibial tufts approximately same size, posterior one trapezoid, anterior one subtriangular (
Figures 2
C and 2E), hairs of anterior mid-tibial tuft longer and paler than those of posterior tuft; mid basitarsus with an internal keel; metatibia triangular, acute, post-glandular area fringed with long fulvous hairs (
0.93 mm
) (
Figure 2
D).
Metasoma.
Punctation on discal base of T1 sparse, with large, rounded punctures; on distal part of T1 and T2-T6 dense, composed of small and rounded punctures; on T7 dense, with large, elongated punctures (
Figure 2
G); S2 with small, widely separated tufts.
Female.
Similar to male, with the following differences: tongue longer, exceeding apex of metasoma; mandible with three teeth; clypeus violet, head violet, top of head and clypeus with black hairs, antennal sockets with fulvous hairs, scape entirely dark, with no white markings, paraocular markings lacking; legs violet with fulvous hairs; metasoma violet with black hairs above and fulvous hairs laterally, hair tuft of scutellum measuring 1.00 x
0.65 mm
; mesosoma dark violet with green hues laterally, T6 bright green apically; sterna bluish-green with a broad longitudinal band dark violet. [Description based on the female (Allotype) with the following label data: “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “12327-36331” (UFMG)]
Etymology.
The species epithet honours Dr. Solange
Cristina Augusto
, who has long studied orchid bees and made a large number of specimens available to me. Among them, the new species
Euglossa jacquelynae
and
Euglossa solangeae
.
Type
locality.
Holotype
collected at
Ilha
do Cardoso (25º03 05”–
25º18’18”S
, 47º53’48”–48º05’42”), municipality of Cananéia, state of São Paulo, southeastern
Brazil
.
Holotype
and
paratypes
collected while visiting flowers of
Quesnelia arvensis
(Vellozo) Mez. (Bromeliaceae)
.
FIGURE 2—
A: dorsal view of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; B: face of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; C: midtibial tufts of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; D: metatibia of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; E: mesotibia of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; F: mesotibia of
Euglossa annectans
; G: distal metasoma of
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
; H: distal metasoma of
Euglossa annectans
.
Type
material.
HOLOTYPE
:
male, with the following data: “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “12327-36332” (
UFMG
).
PARATYPES
:
five females with the following data: “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “12327-36331” (
UFMG
); “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/ IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “
Quesnelia arvensis
(Bromeliaceae)
” (
UFU
); idem (
UFU
); “Est.[ação] E.[cológica] Juréia,
9/IX/1989
, Pombal, E. C. & Pombal Jr., J. P.” (FFCLRP); “Praia Domingos Dias, Ubatuba, São Paulo,
19.ii.1997
, M. Sazima” (FFCLRP); twelve males, with the following data: “Cananéia, SP,
Brasil
, 03/10/[20]04, S. C. Augusto” and “12326-36329” (
UFMG
); idem and “12326-36330” (
UFPR
); “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “12327-36333” (
UFMG
); idem and “12327- 36334” (
UFMG
); idem and “12327-36335” (UKansas); idem and “12327-36336” (
UFBA
); idem and “12327- 36337” (
INPA
); idem and “12327-36338” (
ZSM
); “
Ilha
do Cardoso, SP,
Brasil
,
25/IX/2005
, S. C. Augusto” and “
Quesnelia arvensis
(Bromeliaceae)
” (
UFU
); “Est.[ação] E.[cológica] Juréia,
9/IX/1989
, Pombal, E. C. & Pombal Jr., J. P.” and “
Euglossa (Euglossella) carinilabris
Dressler, 1982
, Det. Oliveira, 1997” (FFCLRP); idem and idem (FFCLRP); “Praia Domingos Dias, Ubatuba, São Paulo,
19.ii.1997
, M. Sazima” and “
Euglossa (Euglossella) carinilabris
Dressler, 1982
, Det. Oliveira, 1997” (FFCLRP); “
Brasil
: SP: S.[ão] Sebastião, P. Cambury,
i.1989
, C.R.F. Brandão col.” (
USP
).
Remarks.
Dressler (1978)
tentatively included
E. stellfeldi
in subgenus
Glossura
Cockerell (as
E. stellfeldi
species group). Roubik (2004: 252) re-arranged
Glossura
and excluded
E. annectans
and
E. stellfeldi
from it, since in these species “the tongue length in repose barely reaches the tip of body and sternal openings with cowls are absent”. Currently, this species group is not assigned to any named subgenus.
Euglossa solangeae
sp. n.
is easily assigned to the
E. stellfeldi
species group and seems to be closely related to both
E. annectans
and
E. stellfeldi
. I agree with
Dressler (1982a)
, Rebêlo &
Moure (1995)
and Roubik (2004) that the relationship of this group to the rest of
Euglossa
is not clear. Males share the following characters with members of
Glossura
: anterior tuft of the mesotibia entire; mid basitarsus with an internal keel; metatibia triangular; two mandibular teeth. On the other hand, sternal tufts are small and widely separated, a character shared with all groups of the subgenus
Euglossa
s. str.
(see
Dressler 1978
,
1982b
). The length of the extended tongue in repose (reaching the distal tip of the body) is intermediate: in
Glossura
the tongue is longer than the body; in
Euglossa
it is always shorter than body. This combination of characters, however, does not constitute a pool of distinctive features (synapomorphies) which could justify the designation of a new supraspecific grouping to accommodate these three species. Only future comprehensive phylogenetic analyses can determine the exact position of this species group within the genus
Euglossa
, and thus it is now considered as
incertae sedis
.
Another species similar to
E. solangeae
sp. n.
is
E. carinilabris
Dressler. This
species, however, is golden green, has a green clypeus, and has only been recorded in Bahia state, northeastern
Brazil
. I have studied many collections of orchid bees from Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro states (representing> 10,000 specimens) and no
E. carinilabris
specimen was ever seen in these locations that are between southern Bahia and northern São Paulo state, the northernmost limit of
E. solangeae
sp. n.
Although not included in
E. stellfeldi
group when first described, I believe
E. carinilabris
is the fourth member of this group.