Eremaphantella Engel, 2015

Engel, Michael S., 2015, Notes on family-group names for bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), Journal of Melittology 2015 (46), pp. 1-7 : 6-7

Eremaphantella Engel , new subgenus

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:105E4072-28D6-4355-87AA-477C63CA22D1

TYPE SPECIES: Eremaphanta iranica Schwammberger, 1971 .

DIAGNOSIS: Head broader than long; vertex gently to weakly convex, scarcely above level of summits of compound eyes; maxillary blade over three times width; mesosoma black, without yellow markings laterally or dorsally; pretarsal claws cleft; metasomal terga I– V with apical bands of dense white setae, less well developed in male (interrupted), terga I–III with similar pubescence basally.

ETYMOLOGY: The new subgeneric name is a combination of the diminutive suffix – ella and the parent genus, Eremaphanta (itself a combination of the Greek words, eremia, meaning “desert”, and aphantos, meaning “unseen”). The gender of the name is feminine.

INCLUDED SPECIES: Presently the subgenus includes only the type species, which occurs in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman (Schwammberger, 1971; Michez & Patiny, 2006; Dathe, 2009).

COMMENT: Michez & Patiny (2006) mentioned the absence of tergal setal bands for E. iranica but these are present at least laterally in the male (Schwammberger, 1971) and are complete in the female (Dathe, 2009).