Euglossa (Glossura) bazinga Nemésio & Ferrari, 2012

Nemésio, André & Ferrari, Rafael R., 2012, Euglossa (Glossura) bazinga sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apinae, Apini, Euglossina), a new orchid bee from western Brazil, and designation of a lectotype for Euglossa (Glossura) ignita Smith, 1874, Zootaxa 3590, pp. 63-72 : 67-70

Euglossa (Glossura) bazinga Nemésio & Ferrari , sp. n.

Diagnosis. Euglossa bazinga sp. n. is easily assigned to the subgenus Glossura by presenting the following characters: extended mouthparts longer than body size (almost twice as long as body length), labrum longer than wide, biconvex scutellum and triangular metatibia. This species is similar to E. ignita , from which it can be distinguished from the much smaller size (length ca. 11.0 mm; E. ignita specimens range from 12.5 to 14.0 mm), longer extended mouthparts (almost twice as long as the body length, whereas in E. ignita it is about 1.5 times longer than body length), bluish integumental coloration ( Figure 2 A, C, G) ( E. ignita is golden green with strong golden hues—even red in some specimens on metasoma and metatibia—Figure 2B, D, H), area between S2 tufts plain ( Figure 3 A) (it is deeply excavated in E. ignita — Figure 3 B), S2 tufts circular shaped ( Figure 3 A) (semicircular in E. ignita — Figure 3 B) with hairs located inside a short and shallow depression ( Figure 3 C, E) (in E. ignita S2 tufts located inside a long and deep depression—Figure 3D, F), posterior mesotibial tuft proportionally smaller than anterior tuft than in E. ignita (compare Figures 2 E and 2F), anterior mesotibial tuft uniformly elliptical or cylindrical (it is more triangular in E. ignita —see Figures 2 E and 2F); distance between S7 lobes and base of arms equal to length of three lobes ( Fig. 4 A) (equal to length of more than four lobes in E. ignita , forming a constriction—Figure 4B); posterior section of S8 triangular, pointed, forming an almost equilaterous triangle ( Fig. 4 C) (sharply pointed, forming an almost isosceles triangle in E. ignita — Fig. 4 D), with basolateral points with straight sides, not rounded ( Fig. 4 C) (rounded in E. ignita— Fig. 4 D).

Type material (all specimens deposited at UFU). HOLOTYPE: male, with the following label data: “ Brasil, MT, Brasnorte, Fazenda Tolosa, 13°10’36”S, 57°56’13”W, 443m, 25.iii.2012, Salicilato, S.Nascimento”. PARATYPES: seventeen males, with the following label data: (i) “ Brasil, MT, Brasnorte, Fazenda Tolosa, 13°10’36”S, 57°56’13”W, 443m, 25.ii.2012, Salicilato, S.Nascimento”; (ii) “idem, Ac. Benzila”; (iii) “idem, 25.iii.2012, Salicilato”; (iv) “idem”; (v) “idem”; (vi) “idem”; (vii) “idem”, (viii) “idem”, (ix) “ Brasil, MT, Diamantino, Fazenda San Rafael, 14°19’09”S, 57°40’03”W, 608m, 27.xii.2011, Cineol, S. Nascimento”; (x) “idem, 3.iii.2012, Salicilato”; (xi) “Juína, MT, Brasil, 20/04/2010, A. Nemésio”; (xii) “idem”; (xiii) “idem”; (xiv) “idem, 22/04/2010 ”; (xv) “idem, 23/04/2010 ”; (xvi) “idem”; (xvii) “idem”.

Description (Male, Figures 2 A, C, E, G, 3A, C, E, 4A, C, E, G):

Color and vestiture. Clypeus greenish blue, rest of head bright green ( Figure 2 C); mesosoma greenish blue ( Figure 2 A); T1–T2 bluish green ( Figure 2 A), T3–T7 plain green, metatibia bluish green ( Figure 2 G). Wings pale brown. Gena with long (1.5 mm) white bristles; only fulvous hairs on antennal sockets; black setae on upper frons and top of head; overall pubescence very sparse, fulvous and black hairs evenly distributed on mesosoma, predominantly black setae on scutellum, very sparse, blackish setae on T1–T7 and sparse fulvous setae on S1–S6. Ivory paraocular markings well developed, reaching malar area; anterior surface of antennal scape with a small ivory spot occupying about 1/3 of its length ( Figure 2 C).

Head. Width 4.4 mm; interorbital distance at level of antennal sockets 2.3 mm; maximum interorbital distance 2.4 mm; scape 0.8 mm; eye length 2.9 mm, mandible with two teeth.

Body. Body length ca. 11.0 mm; anterior wing ca. 9.0 mm; extended tongue exceeding body length (ca. 7.0 mm longer than body tip); scutellum 2.4-mm wide and 1.2-mm long; very minute (0.04 mm in diameter) circular punctures on scutum, separated from each other by at least a puncture-diameter; punctures on scutellum of different sizes, from very minute (0.01 mm) to medium-sized (0.1 mm), sparser than on mesoscutum; abdominal width 4.2 mm.

Legs. Foretibia and forebasitarsus fringed with medium-sized (up to 0.8 mm), dense, fulvous hairs; velvet area occupying the entire ventral side of mesotibia, posterior mesotibial tuft small (about 1/4 of the size of anterior tuft), subtrapezoid; anterior mesotibial tuft large, subcylindrical ( Figure 2 E); metatibia triangular, acute, post-glandular area fringed with long hairs (up to 1.00 mm) ( Figure 2 G).

Metasoma. Punctation on discal base of T1 sparse, with large elongated punctures; on distal part of T1 and T2–T4 dense, comprised of small (0.025 mm diameter) circular punctures; on T5–T6 dense, with medium-sized elongated punctures (0.06 x 0.03 mm); on T7 dense, with large elongated punctures (0.1 x 0.05 mm); S2 with two short and shallow semicircular depressions with setae, forming circular tufts widely separated, and integument between both tufts fairly plain ( Figure 3 A).

Terminalia. Male terminalia as in figures 4A, C, E, G. S7 deeply invaginated mesally, forming two lobes; distance between base of lobes and medial portion of arms equal to length of three lobes ( Fig. 4 A) (distance between base of lobes and medial portion of arms equal to length of> four lobes, forming a constriction in E. ignita — Fig. 4 B); absence of setae throughout invaginated section; notospiculum weak, slightly divided apically, posterolateral projections of anterior section strong, prominent; posterior section of S8 triangular, pointed, forming an almost equilaterous triangle ( Fig. 4 C) (sharply pointed, forming an almost isosceles triangle in E. ignita — Fig. 4 D), with basolateral points with straight sides, not rounded ( Fig. 4 C) (rounded in E. ignita— Fig. 4 D); gonostylus simple (‘ type V’ of Ospina-Torres et al. 2006), lateral lobe pointed and slightly curved downwards ( Fig. 4 E, G), similar to E. ignita ( Fig. 4 F, H); gonostylar setae long throughout ( Fig. 4 E), similar to E. ignita ( Fig. 4 F); dorsal process of gonocoxa well developed, apical process rounded laterally (more pointed in E. ignita — Fig. 4 F).

Female. Unknown.

Etymology. The specific epithet honors the clever, funny, captivating “nerd” character Sheldon Cooper, brilliantly portrayed by the North American actor James Joseph “Jim” Parsons on the CBS TV show “The Big Bang Theory”. Sheldon Cooper’s favorite comic word “ bazinga ”, used by him when tricking somebody, was here chosen to represent the character. Euglossa bazinga sp. n. has tricked us for some time due to its similarity to E. ignita , which eventually led us to use “ bazinga ”. Sheldon Cooper has also an asteroid named after him (246247 Sheldoncooper).

Type locality. Holotype collected at Fazenda Tolosa (13°10’36”S, 57°56’13”W, 443m), in the municipality of Brasnorte, state of Mato Grosso, western Brazil.

Attractive baits. Most specimens collected at methyl salicylate; a few specimens also collected at benzyl acetate and cineole.

Geographic Distribution. Euglossa bazinga sp. n. is known to occur in the central (municipality of Diamantino) and north-western (Brasnorte and Juína) portions of the state of Mato Grosso, central to northern Brazil (see Figure 1 ). However, since this species is similar to the widely distributed E. ignita , it is possible that specimens from the neighbor state of Rondônia and also from northeastern Bolivia labeled as E. ignita in entomological collections may belong to Euglossa bazinga sp. n.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map illustrating the localities where Euglossa bazinga sp. n. was recorded. Ligth grey shadows = Cerrado (savannah-like vegetation); dark grey = Atlantic Forest.

FIGURE 2. Comparing holotype Euglossa bazinga sp. n. (left column) to E. ignita Smith, 1874 (right column): A – B: dorsal view of metasoma; C – D: frontal view of face; E – F: ventral view of mesotibia; G – H: metatibia. Figures 2 B, D, F and H from an E. ignita specimen from the Amazon (see Appendix 1).

FIGURE 3. Comparing Euglossa bazinga sp. n. (left column) to E. ignita Smith, 1874 (right column): A – B: ventral view of metasoma focusing on S 2; C – D: dorsal view of left S 2 pocket (setae were removed); E – F: frontal view of left S 2 pocket (setae were removed) — see Diagnosis for discussion. Figure 3 A from the holotype; Figure 3 C and 3 E from a paratype. Figures 3 B, D and F from an E. ignita specimen from the Amazon (see Appendix 1).

FIGURE 4. Comparing Euglossa bazinga sp. n. (left column) to E. ignita Smith, 1874 (right column): A – B: seventh sternum; C – D: eighth sternum; E – F: lateral view of genital capsule; D – F: dorsal view of genital capsule.