Holcopasites tegularis Hurd and Linsley

ROZEN, JEROME G. & ÖZBEK, HIKMET, 2003, Oocytes, Eggs, and Ovarioles of Some Long-Tongued Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), American Museum Novitates 3393, pp. 1-36 : 11

Holcopasites tegularis Hurd and Linsley

MATURE OOCYTE (figs. 13, 15): Length 0.44–0.48 mm; maximum diameter, lateral view 0.15–0.18 mm (N = 3); egg index 0.45 (dwarf). Shape as described for Holcopasites insoletus except posterior end more tapering than anterior end and widest part tending to be in front of midpoint; micropylar projection elevated about as far as its basal diameter, shorter than in H. insoletus . Chorion as described for H. insoletus except perhaps thinner and colorless; under SEM examination, dorsal surface smoother than lateral surface, which is faintly rough; eclosion lines (?) somewhat jagged, linear, following edge of dorsal polygonal placoids (fig. 15).

MATERIAL STUDIED: One female, Arizona: Cochise Co., 12 mi SW Apache, VIII­13– 2001 (J.G. and B.L. Rozen) .

APIDAE : NOMADINAE: BIASTINI

The egg of the biastine Neopasites cressoni (Crawford) was described by Torchio et al. (1967) and later compared with the egg/ oocyte structure of Rhopalolemma rotundiceps Roig­Alsina in the same tribe (Rozen, et al., 1997). In these species and in Biastes brevicornis (Panzer) , the micropylar apparatus appears as a dorsally projecting, hooklike process bearing numerous pores at the anterior end, very much as in the Ammobatoidini, at least some Nomadini (e.g., Iwata, 1960; Alexander and Rozen, 1987), probably the Caenoprosopidini (Rozen and Roig­Alsina, 1991), and at least some Epeolini ( Alexander and Rozen, 1987; Torchio and Burdick, 1988). Biastine eggs/oocytes, to the extent known, have one or more transverse tubercles on their dorsal surface, distinguishing them from the eggs/oocytes of all of these tribes. Within the tribe, Rhopalolemma rotundiceps is distinctive because of its more elongate egg shape compared with the other two exemplars and because its dorsal surface is covered with numerous transverse ridges, more distinct than those of N. cressoni . The dorsal surface of the mature oocyte of B. brevicornis is smooth except for the single conspicuous transverse tubercle near the front end, and therefore contrasts with oocytes of the other two genera.