Andrena (Aciandrena) xera Pisanty, 2022

Pisanty, Gideon, Scheuchl, Erwin, Martin, Teresa, Cardinal, Sophie & Wood, Thomas James, 2022, Twenty-five new species of mining bees (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae: Andrena) from Israel and the Levant, Zootaxa 5185 (1), pp. 1-109 : 26-28

Andrena (Aciandrena) xera Pisanty sp. nov.

( Figs. 45–49 )

Female ( Fig. 45 ).

Body length: 6.5 mm.

Colour. Body black ( Fig. 45 ). Flagellomeres 1–3 brown basally, orange apically; 4–10 orange ( Figs. 45–47 ). Mid and hind femora and basal 3/4 of mid tibia dark brown. Mid and hind tarsi, hind tibia and apical 1/4 of mid tibia golden. Wings hyaline, veins and stigma golden ( Fig. 45 ). Tergal marginal zones reddish-orange basally, yellowish apically ( Fig. 49 ).

Pubescence. Body hair mostly sparse, short, minutely plumose, white to yellowish ( Fig. 45 ). Clypeus with sparse short white hair. Lower 2/3 of paraocular area with dense, white medium-lengthed hair. Scape and area between antennal sockets with white to yellowish hair ( Fig. 46 ). Facial foveae dark in ventral view, brownish-white in dorsal view ( Figs. 46–47 ). Vertex with medium-lengthed yellowish-white hair. Genal area with short yellowish-white hair dorsally, medium white hair ventrally. Mesonotum, scutellum and metanotum with relatively thick, yellowish hair, very short and moderately dense medially, short to medium and dense peripherally ( Fig. 47 ). Mesepisternum with long white hair. Propodeal corbicula incomplete, dorsoposterior fringe with long white plumose hair, corbicular surface with few long, white simple hairs. Leg hair mostly white; scopal hairs simple, white ( Fig. 45 ). Tergal discs with short to medium white hair laterally; tergal discs 1–3 hairless medially. Tergal marginal zones with dense, thick bands of white hair, extending to over 1/2 the length of following tergal disc medially, limited to small lateral patches on tergum 1, interrupted on 2, continuous on 3–4. Prepygidial fimbria white laterally, mostly golden medially; pygidial fimbria golden ( Fig. 49 ).

Head ( Figs. 46–47 ). 1.2 times broader than long. Galea shiny, superficially shagreened. Labral process narrow, almost square-shaped, apical margin slightly emarginate. Clypeus almost flat, basal half superficially shagreened, apical half smooth, moderately punctured, distance between punctures 1.5–2 puncture diameters, punctation slightly sparser medially, without impunctate midline ( Fig. 46 ). Supraclypeal plate not striated. Flagellomere 1 longer than 2+3, 2 as long as 3. Frons longitudinally striated. Facial fovea broad, weakly tapering downwards, extending from level of middle of lateral ocellus to lower end of antennal socket, 0.5 times as broad as antennocular distance ( Fig. 46 ). Distance of fovea from lateral ocellus 0.7 ocellus diameters. Ocelloccipital distance 1 ocellus diameter. Vertex weakly carinate ( Fig. 47 ). Genal area 0.9 times as broad as compound eye.

Mesosoma ( Figs. 47–48 ). Pronotum without elevated dorsolateral angle or lateral carina. Mesonotum finely shagreened on anterior 1/3, smooth medially, punctation very fine, distance between punctures 1–2 puncture diameters ( Fig. 47 ). Scutellum very smooth on anterior 2/3, punctation slightly sparser. Mesepisternum finely alveolate, finely obliquely punctured. Propodeal corbicula finely reticulate. Posterior part of propodeum finely alveolate, triangle weakly delineated from flanking regions, sculptured slightly coarser, with a weak, short mediobasal ruga ( Fig. 48 ). Hind pretarsal claw unidentate. Recurrent vein 1 meets submarginal cell 2 at its middle or slightly distal to it. Submarginal crossvein 1 meets marginal cell 3 vein widths from stigma. Nervulus distinctly antefurcal ( Fig. 45 ). The single available specimen lacks both front legs (removed for DNA extraction), which are therefore absent from the description.

Metasoma ( Fig. 49 ). Tergal discs shagreened and impunctate, 1–2 strongly so, 3–4 more superficially, weakly shiny. Tergal marginal zones similarly sculptured, 1–2 not depressed, 3–4 depressed and distinctly arched, medially occupying 1/2 tergum length. Pygidial plate centrally with raised longitudinal ridge.

Male. Unknown.

Diagnosis: Andrena xera is closest to A. palmyriae Wood and A. pavonia Warncke. All three are desert habitat species with short semi-squamous hairs on the mesonotum and scutellum, orange hind tibiae, and thick white hairbands covering the tergal margins. Andrena xera can be separated by the absence of an impunctate midline on the clypeus (present in A. palmyriae and A. pavonia ), medially smooth mesonotum (completely smooth in A. palmyriae , completely shagreened in A. pavonia ), weakly notched labral process (deeply notched in A. palmyriae ), antefurcal nervulus (more or less interstitial in A. palmyriae ), and very broad tergal hair bands (narrower in A. pavonia ).

Distribution: Israel (Arava valley). Likely present also in Jordan.

Flight period: February.

Flower records: Brassicaceae .

Holotype: ISRAEL: Nahal Shezaf , 30.722ºN 35.270ºE, 14.ii.2016, G. Pisanty, on Brassicaceae , ♀ ( SMNHTAU:234067).

Etymology. xera = Greek for “dry”, in reference to extreme desert habitat of this species. The species epithet is an adjective.

Figures

FIGURES 44–49. Andrena (Aciandrena) varicornis Pérez. 44. female habitus. Andrena (Aciandrena) xera sp. nov., holotype. 45. female habitus, 46. female head, 47. female head and mesosoma, 48. female propodeal triangle, 49. female metasoma.