Megachile funeraria Smith, 1863

Wood, T. J., Risch, S., Orr, M. C. & Hogan, J. E., 2025, An illustrated type catalogue of the bee species collected by Alfred Russel Wallace and described by Frederick Smith from Southeast Asia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), European Journal of Taxonomy 1028, pp. 1-144 : 121-124

79. Megachile funeraria Smith, 1863

Fig. 78

Megachile funeraria Smith, 1863: 46–47 , ♀.

Type material examined

Lectotype

INDONESIA • ♀; Booru [Bouru]; [ 4 May–3 Jul. 1861]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2833-01 ( lectotype indicated by Baker 1993, de facto lectotype by present designation)

Paralectotype

INDONESIA • 1 ♀;? Booru [no locality label]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2833-02 (not labelled as paralectotype by Baker) .

Type locality

Bouru [= Buru].

Notes

Baker (1993: 230–231) wrote the following:

“Of two ♀♀ standing as funeraria in the UMO type collection, one is labelled ‘Booro.’ [blue paper], the other ‘ Megachile funeraria Smith. ’ [blue paper; Smith], Although the latter bears no data label, there is no reason to suppose it to be other than a syntype of funeraria , for which Smith gave no locality other than Bouru in his subsequent catalogue (1873: 390). The ‘Booro’ specimen is now designated as LECTOTYPE of funeraria and it has been labelled accordingly;

the specimen with Smith’s determination label has been labelled as a paralectotype. The lectotype has lost leg L II and tarsus R II, and the mesosoma is crushed.

The sculpture of vertex and mesonotum in this species is much as in bicanaliculatum (Cameron, 1901) [ Sarawak: Matang. Type ♀ B.M. Type Hym. 17 a 2052]. The terga are glossy, with mixed larger and smaller punctures, not at all dense”.

Baker’s indicated specimen is here formally published as the lectotype.

Current status

Megachile ( Alocanthedon) funeraria Smith, 1863 . Baker (1993: 230) indicated that the species belonged to the subgenus Alocanthedon and labelled it as such ( Fig. 78A), but the species was not included in the revision of Engel & Gonzalez (2011) at the time of the formal description of this subgenus. This increases the number of species in the subgenus to eight ( Engel & Gonzalez 2011; Engel & Schwarz 2011), but revisionary work is required due to overlooked names such as M. funeraria as well as Megachile bicanaliculata Cameron, 1901 which belongs to this subgenus and was described from Sarawak in the female sex, the same terra typicus as Megachile ( Alocanthedon) trusanica Engel, 2011 . Further study is required.

Distribution

Indonesia ( Maluku: Buru) (Smith 1863). Ascher & Pickering (2024) list also Java; the underlying source data are not currently available.