Melissodes (Ecplectica) trifasciata (F. Smith)

Genaro, Julio A. & Franz, Nico M., 2008, The bees of Greater Puerto Rico (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), Insecta Mundi 2008 (40), pp. 1-24 : 13

Melissodes (Ecplectica) trifasciata (F. Smith) ( Fig. 23 ).

Melissodes trifasciata Cresson, 1878d: 208 . Holotype female in ANSP.

= Melissodes insularis Crawford, 1914: 132 . Holotype male in USNM.

GD: Dominica, Puerto Rico (including Mona Island), and United States Virgin Islands (St. Croix and St. Thomas) ( LaBerge 1956).

LaBerge and Moure (1962) synonymized M. trifasciata with M. nigroaenea F. Smith, 1854 , an older name for a species from Brazil, without offering additional comments. These authors furthermore designated a lectotype female for M. nigroaenea deposited in the Hope Department of Entomology, Oxford University. However, both species seem to be distinct (D. Urban, personal communication 2007), and are treated separately by Moure et al. (2007). On the other hand, LaBerge communicated to Snelling (R. R. Snelling, personal communication 1997) that “ M. nigroaenea seems to be limited to South America”. It would be useful to learn why these authors amended their earlier perspective. LaBerge and Moure (1962) offered descriptive notes on the lectotype and paratype females of M. nigroaenea . Therein they mentioned some differences in hair coloration between that species and M. trifasciata . The authors offered little information on surface sculpturing which tends to be more reliable characters for species recognition. Here we treat both species as distinct.

Figures

Figure 16-29. Apidae. 16) Anthophora tricolor (Fabr.). 17) Centris smithii Cresson. 18) C. decolorata Lepeletier. 19) C. lanipes (Fabr.). 20) C. haemorrhoidalis (Fabr.). 21) Exomalopsis analis Spinola. 22) Exomalopsis bahamica Timberlake. 23) Melissodes trifasciata Cresson. 24) Nomada pilipes (Cresson). 25) N. krugii Cresson. 26) Xeromelecta tibialis (Fabr.). 27) Mesoplia rufipes (Perty). 28-29) Xylocopa mordax F. Smith.