Centris (Centris) aenea Lepeletier, 1841

Vivallo, Felipe, 2019, Lectotype designations, taxonomic notes and new synonymies in some species of the bee genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Amédée Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Zootaxa 4624 (1), pp. 23-40 : 25

Centris (Centris) aenea Lepeletier, 1841

Centris aenea Lepeletier, 1841 . 163.

Type data: Lectotype female with the following data label: aenea [handwritten]\ type [printed in red ink]\ Museum Paris ouest Capite des Mines [printed]\ [circular label] Des Mines [handwritten]\ Type Lepelletier [handwritten] ( MNHP). Subsequent designation: Moure (1969).

Type locality: Brazil: Minas Gerais state .

Centris rufa Lepeletier, 1841 . 153, 154.

Type data: Lectotype female with the following data label: Centris rufa Lep ♀ Brasilia [handwritten]\ Bras. [hand- written]\ Lectotype rufa [handwritten] Det. J. S. Moure 19 [printed] 57 [handwritten] ( OUMNH). Paralectotype female: Centris rufa Lep ♀ Brasilia [handwritten]\ Bres. [handwritten] ( OUMNH). Subsequent designation: Moure (1969).

Type locality: Brazil .

Comments: According to Moure (1969), he found two specimens of C. aenea deposited in MNHP, one from São Paulo state (“Capt. de St. Paul”) and another from Minas Gerais state (“Capitanerie des Mines”), choosing the latter as the lectotype indicating that this was expressly the specimen referred to by Lepeletier (1841). In the description of the species, only Minas Gerais was cited and no other localities. In the same article, Moure (1969) mentioned he studied two specimens identified as C. rufa from Brazil (“Brasilia”), designating lectotype the largest. Both specimens were found at OUMNH and they agree with the original description. According to it, the specimens of C. rufa came from the collection of Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean (1790–1845), a famous French mili- tary soldier who participated in the Napoleonic Wars and entomologist specialist in Coleoptera ( Gouillard, 2004). Dejean’s collection was split into several parts and sold shortly after his death ( Hope, 1846). Specimens of Dejean were absorbed by the collections of the French entomologists Jules Pierre Rambur (1801–1870) and Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville (1775–1858). This latter collection was newly split into two and incorporated to Spinola’s ( MNST) and J. O. Westwood’s ( OUMNH) collections ( Baker, 1994).

Lepeletier (1841) did not specify the provenance of the specimens of C. aenea . All types studied are in good condition.

This species was correctly interpreted by Vivallo & Zanella (2012) and Moure et al. (2007). Centris aenea is mainly a South American species, in Brazil it can be found in Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and São Paulo states ( Silveira et al., 2002).

The name “Brasilia” on the label of C. rufa , as well as in C. ferruginea and C. violacea (see below), refers to the ancient denomination of Brazil in Latin and not to the current capital of the country.

Taxonomic decision for synonymy: Moure (1969).