Sphecodes pimpinellae Robertson 1900

Gibbs, Jason, Ascher, John S., Rightmyer, Molly G. & Isaacs, Rufus, 2017, The bees of Michigan (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), with notes on distribution, taxonomy, pollination, and natural history, Zootaxa 4352 (1), pp. 1-160 : 96

Sphecodes pimpinellae Robertson 1900 ( mandibularis group)

Holotype. ♀ USA, Illinois, Carlinville, C. Robertson ( INHS)

= Sphecodes wheeleri Mitchell, 1956 (New synonymy)

Holotype. ♀ USA, North Carolina, Marion , 18 Jun. 1941, Leucanthemum, T. B. Mitchell ( NMNH).

County records: Berrien, Jackson.

Notes. Sphecodes pimpinellae , a cleptoparasite of Augochlorella ( Ordway 1964) , is newly recorded from southern Michigan (Lettow et al. in review). The synonymy, first suggested by Ordway (1964) and endorsed in an unpublished study by Mike Arduser, is provisionally accepted here but cannot be considered well established due to incomplete understanding of observed morphological variation. The names S. pimpinellae and S. wheeleri have been applied to females with and without a subapical tooth on the mandible, respectively. Sphecodes pimpinellae has been infrequently recorded across the east and Midwest, while S. wheeleri was described from a few areas in New York, Connecticut and North Carolina ( Mitchell 1956). The Michigan female specimen lacks the subapical tooth, so should the synonymy be rejected it would be S. wheeleri .

Material examined. Berrien Co.: SWMREC, 19 Jul. 2016 (1 ♂ MSUC:RI) ; Jackson Co.: Clark Lake , MacCready Res., N 42°7ʹ W84°24ʹ, 4 Jun. 2012, M.C. Lettow (1 ♀ MSUC [at JBWM]) .