Cyphanthidium whiteheadi, Eardley & Griswold, 2018

Eardley, Connal & Griswold, Terry, 2018, Taxonomic revision of Cyphanthidium Pasteels (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Anthidiini), an endemic Afrotropical bee genus, Zootaxa 4450 (1) : -

Cyphanthidium whiteheadi new species

Figs 4, 10

Diagnosis. Dorsal region of clypeus and supraclypeus strongly protuberant. Male hind trochanter neither carinate nor spiked ventrally; T6 with subapical lateral teeth, a mediolongitudinal carina ending in a posteromedian tooth ( Fig. 10d ), and T7 has posterolateral projections that are longer than broad, ending in inner angle, and a narrower posteromedian subtruncate projection ( Fig. 10d ). Cyphanthidium whiteheadi is most similar to C. sheppardi and C. gessorum , differing most noticeably in the longer, weakly angled, posterolateral lobes on T7.

Description. FEMALE. Unknown.

MALE. Colour. Vestiture mostly white, yellow under tarsi ( Fig. 10a–b ). Integument black with yellow or pale orange maculation on: clypeus except dorsomedially, mandible (except distal margin), stripe laterally on vertex, pronotal lobe, small stripe on posterior margin of scutellum, tegula medially, legs except coxae and trochanters, proximal regions of T1–T4 with distinct stripes laterally, broken medially (distal margins milky white), most of T5 with wider, stronger stripe interrupted sublaterally, T6 mostly reddish (distal margins translucent pale reddish), entire T7 red except yellow on lateral lobes ( Fig. 10a–c ).

Lengths. Head 1.8 mm; scutum 2.4 mm; forewing 6.5 mm.

Structure. Vertex convex ( Fig. 10b ); face distinctly bulging from upper clypeus through supraclypeus and interantennal areas onto frons (lateral view, eye about three times as wide as clypeus); clypeus dull between punctures, ventral edge crenulate; mandible tridentate; pronotal lobe weakly lamellate anteriorly; hind trochanter neither carinate nor spiked ventrally; hind tibial spurs dissimilar, posterior (inner) hind tibial spur mostly straight, slender, slightly curved distally, anterior (outer) spur distinctly wider basally, more strongly curved distally ( Fig. 10e ); T6 with subapical lateral spike and mediolongitudinal carina ending in spike ( Fig. 10d ); T7 with posterolateral and posteromedian lobes, median lobe subtruncate, lateral lobe longer than wide, apically forming inner angle, greater than width of median lobe, narrower than distance to median lobe; S5–S8 and genital capsule similar to that of C. gessorum (c.f. Fig. 9a–e ).

Distribution. Cyphanthidium whiteheadi is known only from Ladismith in the Little Karoo region of the Western Cape Province, South Africa (Fig. 4).

Floral association. Unknown.

Material examined. Type material. Holotype male. South Africa. ‘ S. Afr. C.P. Ladismith, 10 Dec. 1978 VB Whitehead’ (in SAMC).

Etymology. This new species is named in recognition of Vincent Whitehead, who collected the holotype of this species and has contributed much to our understanding of the South African bee fauna.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Cyphanthidium gessorum new species, male. a. Genital capsule. b. S8. c. S7. d. S6 e. S5

FIGURE 10. Cyphanthidium whiteheadi new species, male. a. Habitus, dorsal. b. Habitus, lateral. c. Face. d. T6–T7. e. Hind tibial spurs