Colletes indicus KUHLMANN 2003

Colletes indicus KUHLMANN 2003 - KUHLMANN 2003 b: 895.

This species was described based on a single male collected in the Nilgiri Hills near Coonoor (KUHLMANN 2003). Recently I received a male and female of C. indicus that had been collected together by M. HALADA on 26.iv.2005 near the type locality in Pakyra, Nilgiri Hills (N11°29.9´E76°36.9´), 2250 m (research collection KUHLMANN). This permits the description of the hitherto unknown female.

Description of female: The females of the marginatus -group are very similar and C. indicus closely resembles the other species in general habitus (Fig. 7). But like the male (Kuhlmann 2003), it is morpholgically isolated within the species-group and shows some character states that distinguish C. indicus from all of its relatives: the edge of the preoccipital area behind the eyes is weakly developed and not as sharply angled as in the other species; the punctation of the clypeus is much coarser, with the punctures less clearly delimited and about twice the size of those of its relatives, giving the clypeus a more shiny appearance (Fig. 8); the punctation on the disc of T1 is more dispersed and the punctures are more than twice as wide as in the other species (Fig. 9).