Colletes alpinus Morawitz 1872

Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu. & Kuhlmann, Michael, 2015, Type specimens of Colletes Latreille (Hymenoptera, Colletidae) deposited in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 3949 (4), pp. 540-554 : 543

Colletes alpinus Morawitz 1872

( Fig. 25 a–e)

Colletes alpinus Morawitz 1872: 373 –374. Type locality: “Franzenshöhe” (formerly Austria, now Italy).

Types. Lectotype, ♂, designated here // gold circle // “Tirol, Franzenshöhe, 6900´” // alpinus F. Mor. Typ. , handwritten by F. Morawitz // lectotype Colletes alpinus Morawitz 1872 design. Proshchalykin & Kuhlmann 2015, typewritten red label, examined [ZISP].

Current status. For a long time C. alpinus has been accepted as a junior synonym of C. impunctatus Nylander 1852 . Frey-Gessner (1899 –1907: 388) synonymized both species without further comment or justification but apparently has not studied type material. This view was accepted by Blüthgen (1930b) in his preliminary study to prepare the later widely used key to the Colletes species of Central Europe (in Schmiedeknecht 1930). This view has not been challenged subsequently although Morawitz´(1872) original description could have casted doubt on Frey-Gessner´s interpretation. Morawitz clearly stated that female C. alpinus , like in C. floralis , have narrow apical tergal hairbands with the band on T1 medially broadly interrupted while such bands are completely missing in C. impunctatus .

For the present study a lectotype was designated and the diagnostic on the male S7 dissected to confirm its identity ( Fig. 25 d). The male clearly is C. floralis Eversmann 1852 and not the closely related C. impunctatus so C. alpinus is here for the first time recognized as a junior synonym of C. floralis .

Figures

FIGURE 25. Colletes alpinus Morawitz, lectotype, ♂. a—lateral habitus; b—dorsal habitus; c—head; d—S 7; e—labels.