Megachile venusta Smith, 1853

Praz, Christophe J. & Benon, Dimitri, 2023, Revision of the leachella group of Megachile subgenus Eutricharaea in the Western Palaearctic (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae): A renewed plea for DNA barcoding type material, Journal of Hymenoptera Research 95, pp. 143-198 : 143

Megachile venusta Smith, 1853

Megachile venusta Smith, 1853: 159, ♀, "Port Natal; Cape of Good Hope [Durban; Cape of Good Hope; South Africa]". Syntype ♀ (BMNH).

Megachile modesta Smith, 1879: 63, ♀, "White Nile. Collected by Consul Petherick [following Baker 2002: 22, the type locality is likely Khartoum, where John Petherick was the British Vice-Consul]". Syntype ♀ (BMNH). Preoccupied, not M. modesta Smith, 1862.

Megachile modestissima Dalla Torre, 1896: 439. Replacement name for M. modesta Smith, 1879.

Material examined.

Type material. Syntype ♀ of M. venusta (BMNH).

Syntype ♀ of M. modesta Smith, 1879 (BMNH).

Other material.

11 specimens from the following countries: Central African Republic, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa (Suppl. material 1) .

Note.

The identity of this species is unclear and requires additional work; for this reason, the list of synonyms given above is incomplete. In the phylogenetic analyses of Soltani et al. (2017), two main clades were recovered, referred to as M. venusta clade 1 and M. venusta clade 2. Both contained specimens agreeing with members of the Megachile concinna complex; females of both clades are mostly characterized by the partly orange scopa (one barcoded female from Senegal had white scopa, black on S6, as in M. concinna ). It is unclear whether these two clades are conspecific. Clade 2 was restricted to South Africa, while clade 1 contained specimens from Kenya, South Africa, the Central African Republic and Senegal. The name M. modestissima may apply to clade 1, M. venusta to clade 2, if these two clades are demonstrated to represent two distinct species. Additional work is needed to properly delineate species, to obtain data on their distribution, and to properly identify the relevant type material.