Oligochlora Engel

ENGEL, MICHAEL S., 2000, Classification Of The Bee Tribe Augochlorini (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (250), pp. 1-89 : 46-47

Genus Oligochlora Engel

DIAGNOSIS: This fossil genus is not without affinities to Neocorynura but differs by the broadly rounded mesoscutum, the rounded preoccipital ridge, the unproduced pronotal lateral angle, and in some species (Oligo- chlora s.s.) by the obsolescent anterior bor- der to the basitibial plate and the presence of a weak acarinarium on T1.

DESCRIPTION: Female. Mandible with strong subapical tooth. Labral distal process narrowly triangular; lateral teeth strong. Prementum not greatly elongate. Galeal apex rounded. Hypostomal ridge carinate; anterior angle rounded. Length of malar space less than basal mandibular width. Epistomal sulcus obtuse. Ocelli not greatly enlarged; ocellar furrow absent. Vertex not expanded nor ridged behind ocelli. Preoccipital ridge rounded. Pronotal lateral angle not produced, acute to obtuse; dorsal ridge carinate; lateral ridge rounded or carinate. Mesoscutal anterior border rounded; mesoscutal lip rounded. Tegula oval. Anterior basitarsal brush present. Inner hind tibial spur pectinate. Apex of marginal cell feebly truncate. Distal hamuli with irregular spacing pattern. Basal area of propodeum smooth to weakly striate and granular, not elongate; propodeal pit narrow. Male. Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION: The genus is presently known only from the Miocene amber deposits of the Dominican Republic (Iturralde-Vinent and MacPhee, 1996). The Eocene dates which have been estimated for some of these mines based on NMR studies (Lambert et al., 1985) have not been substantiated.