Synopsis of the bee genus Thygater Holmberg 1884 (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, with the description of a new species and a key to all Brazilian species
Author
Freitas, Felipe V.
Author
Silveira, Fernando A.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4238
1
1
29
journal article
36367
10.11646/zootaxa.4238.1.1
58308428-033d-41ec-85fb-6f38e256e511
1175-5326
344981
D3DE19BF-D64F-4363-972F-40AC25DF5CBF
Genus
Thygater
Holmberg 1883
Type species:
Tetralonia terminata
Smith 1854
(=
Macrocera analis
Lepeletier 1841
)
Diagnosis
(unique synapomorphies for each group are in italics).
Thygater
belongs to a distinctive group, maybe a clade, of Neotropical
eucerini
genera, which can be recognized by the following set of characters (
Michener 2007
): Female—blade of galea at least 1.4 times as long as eye;
mandible with condylar ridge expanded, at least as salient as external carina
; labrum usually ¾ as long as wide;
gradulus of S2 weakly biconvex
; gradulus of T6 without teeth on apicolateral margin. Male—labrum at least ¾ as long as wide; clypeus strongly protuberant;
clypeocular distance as long as minimum diameter of F1 or longer
;
inferior part of paraocular carina absent (indicated by a weak ridge in some species of
Thygater
);
lateral portion of clypeus, paraocular area just above clypeus, paraocular area adjacent to clypeus and paraocular area adjacent to eye all in the same plane.
Thygater
can be differentiated from the other genera in this group by the following features: Female—clypeus entirely black, without a pair of divergent ridges;
scape shorter than interantennal space, about twice as long as wide
; F1 at least as long as scape; vertex without preoccipital carina. Male—antenna very long, but apical flagellomeres similar in diameter to basal ones, without row of long hairs;
pygidial plate vestigial, merely indicated by lateral carinae
;
T7 with apical emargination delimiting two flat (round or triangular) lobes
.