Sphecodopsis Bischoff, 1923

Pöllein, Daniela & Kuhlmann, Michael, 2025, Taxonomic revision of the southern African bee genus Sphecodopsis Bischoff, 1923 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae), European Journal of Taxonomy 980, pp. 1-157 : 4

Genus Sphecodopsis Bischoff, 1923

Species groups

The nomenclatural history and the subgeneric concept of Sphecodopsis has been discussed in detail by Eardley & Brothers (1997) and is briefly summarized here. The species currently grouped together as Sphecodopsis were originally described by Bischoff (1923) in two different genera, namely Pseudodichroa Bischoff, 1923 and Sphecodopsis , with the latter divided into two subgenera: Pseudopasites Bischoff, 1923 and Sphecodopsis s. str. Instead, Cockerell (1933a) treated Sphecodopsis and Pseudopasites as subgenera of Morgania Smith, 1854 and consistently placed all species now belonging to Sphecodopsis in that genus ( Eardley & Brothers 1997). The species described as Pseudodichroa correspond to today’s S. capensis group, while the species from the other (sub)genera represent a mix of different species groups.

Based on a phylogenetic analysis, Eardley & Brothers (1997) synonymised Bischoff´s (1923) genera and subgenera and introduced five species groups instead, three of them monotypic. We basically follow this concept and use seven morphologically characterised species groups. Nine species do not fit in any of them and might represent monotypic species groups. They are summarised as ‘isolated species’ at the end.

The group affiliation of the Sphecodopsis species known to Eardley & Brothers (1997) essentially corresponds to our classification. The exception is the S. capicola group, of which only two ( S. capicola Strand, 1911 , S. vespericena Eardley, 1997 ) of the original seven species remain. The other five are distributed among three other species groups and two are monotypic.

Species groups are first defined and then the species belonging to them are listed. The S. capensis species group is listed first because it can be easily separated from the others, based on the unique apically undivided female S6. The other species groups and all species within the groups are arranged in alphabetical order.