The bees of the genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Author
Vivallo, Felipe
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2020
2020-03-19
618
1
47
journal article
10.5852/ejt.2020.618
eb3e0d4d-e623-4c58-ab31-9833367933bd
3722950
FB1B58E6-7E40-4C16-9DFF-2EA5D43BC0B3
Centris ruae
Cockerell, 1949
Fig. 13
Centris
(
Melanocentris
)
ruae
Cockerell, 1949: 474–475
.
New junior synonym
of
C.
(
Hemisiella
)
nitida
Smith, 1874
.
Type
data
This species was described based on male and female specimens collected in
Honduras
. The female
holotype
was collected on March 30 at Escuela Agrícola Panamericana by Rua Williams, the wife of the American explorer and botanist Louis Otho Williams, who worked on the flora of Central America (
Burger 1991
). According to the original description, the type series was composed of another female specimen collected by Adan Rivera on April 8 and two males collected by Wilmatte P. Cockerell and Adan Rivera on January 28. The
holotype
(
Fig. 13
) is currently housed at
NMNH
and has the following data label: Zamorano
Honduras
March 30 Mrs. Williams [handwritten]\
Centris ruae
Ckll
Type\ [red label] Type No [printed] 58880 [handwritten] USNM [printed]\ [yellow label] USNM ENT 00534212 [barcode] [printed]\\ DO NOT REMOVE SI DB Reference Not a property tag T. Schultz
NMNH
[printed].
Type
locality
Honduras
:
Francisco Morazán Department
: Zamorano.
Fig. 13.
Centris ruae
Cockerell, 1949
, holotype, ♀ (
NMNH
; USNM ENT 00534212).
A
. Frontal view.
B
. Habitus, lateral view. Scale bars: A = 1 mm; B = 2 mm.
Comment
Snelling (1984)
mentioned, he studied the
type
specimen of
C. ruae
, considering it conspecific with
C. transversa
Pérez, 1905
. It is not clear whether he studied the
type
of the latter species to propose the mentioned synonymy, but according to the information he cited in his article, apparently he did not, assuming the differences between both species as a result of variation. The study of both
type
specimens allows recognizing
C. transversa
and
C. ruae
as different species, and proposing the transfer of the latter from the synonymy of the former species to the synonymy of
C. nitida
.