Belliturgula Engel, 2019

Engel, Michael S., Alqarni, Abdulaziz S., Shebl, Mohamed A. & Thomas, Jennifer C., 2019, New genera of meliturguline bees from Saudi Arabia and Persia, with notes on related genera and a key to the Arabian fauna (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), Journal of Hymenoptera Research 69, pp. 1-21 : 1

Belliturgula Engel gen. n.

Type species.

Belliturgula najdica Engel, sp. n.

Diagnosis.

The genus resembles Flavomeliturgula in the elongate and apically truncate glossa but differs in the following attributes: body almost entirely pale yellow, with scattered dark brown to black markings; outer subantennal sulcus arched; clypeus greatly protuberant and extending well in front of compound eyes; labrum as long as wide, with distinct basilateral ovoid windows of translucent integument; proximal labial palpomere greatly elongate and flattened, twice as long as combined length of remaining palpomeres, extending well past apex of paraglossa; second through fourth labial palpomeres cylindrical, not flattened; apex of glossa not broadened; galea longer than stipes; mesoscutum covered with abundant, erect, minutely spicate, white setae; forewing 1rs-m confluent with (rather than distad) 1m-cu; basal area of propodeum setose; probasitarsus short and broad, about twice as long as wide; mesotibial spur short, only about 0.5 × length of mesobasitarsus; pygidial plate with margins concave apically and therefore more abruptly tapering to acutely rounded apex.

Description.

Small species (less than 8 mm in total length); integument largely yellow, with some dark brown to black markings (Figs 1 - 5 ); head broader than long; compound eyes with inner margins parallel (Fig. 5 ); outer subantennal sulcus greatly arched outward (Fig. 5 ) (not straight); facial fovea shallow, narrower than median ocellar diameter, elongate, length approximately 5.5 × width (Fig. 5 ); clypeus greatly protuberant, extending in front of compound eye by almost as much as compound eye width (Fig. 8 ) (protuberance extending in front of compound eye by distance approximately 0.85-0.95 × compound eye width); labrum as long as wide, with basilateral ovoid areas ( ‘windows’) of translucent integument, without basilateral patches of dense, elongate, branched setae, with shallow, mediolongitudinal depression; ventral surface of prementum without abundant, long, posteriorly directed, simple setae (such setae present in Khuzimelissa ); first labial palpomere greatly elongate and flattened, much longer than remainder of palpus (Fig. 12 ) (2 × as long as combined lengths of remaining palpomeres), extending greatly beyond apex of paraglossa, second palpomere not flattened, third through fourth palpomeres short, subequal in length, cylindrical (Fig. 12 ); glossa greatly elongate, distinctly longer than face (Fig. 8 ); apex truncate but not broadened (Fig. 9 ); galea longer than stipes (galea slightly longer than stipes in Flavomeliturgula ; galea shorter than stipes in Khuzimelissa ); mesoscutum with numerous scattered, erect, minutely spicate (pipecleaner-like in appearance), white setae, not obscuring integument (0.8-1.3 × median ocellar diameter) (Fig. 4 ); basal area of propodeum setose, setae not obscuring integument; forewing with pterostigma longer than wide, approximately 3.5 × as long as wide, width subequal to length of prestigma, about 3.5 × as long as prestigma, margin bordering first submarginal cell slightly diverging from anterior wing margin, border inside marginal cell converging toward anterior wing margin and with convex arch; marginal cell widely and slightly obliquely truncate at apex, longer than distance from its apex to wing tip; three submarginal cells present (i.e., 1rs-m present); length of first submarginal cell slightly greater than combined lengths of second and third submarginal cells; r-rs and 3Rs (anterior border of second submarginal cell) subequal; 2Rs and 1rs-m slightly converging anteriorly, thus second submarginal cell trapezoidal; 3Rs slightly longer than 0.5 × 4Rs (anterior border of third submarginal cell); 1rs-m confluent with 1m-cu (as in Gasparinhala ); 1cu-a at least 2 × as long as 2M+Cu (usually 2M+Cu even shorter in other genera); hind wing with six distal hamuli; probasitarsus broad, about twice as long as wide (probasitarsus more elongate slender in Flavomeliturgula , nearly four times as long as wide); protibial calcar with velum rectangular, velum with outer and apical borders comparatively straight, malus (apical portion of rachis: sensu Engel et al., 2017) ciliate and slightly shorter than velum; mesofemur ventro-proximally forming nearly orthogonal angle (as in Flavomeliturgula , Meliturgula , Khuzimelissa , and related genera); mesotibial spur serrate, about 0.5 × length of mesobasitarsus; metabasitibial plate broadly rounded, with carinate margins and surface covered in appressed, minute, plumose setae; metatibial and metabasitarsal scopa composed of abundant, elongate (1.8-3.2 × median ocellar diameter), simple setae; pretarsal claws simple; metasomal terga without well-developed setal bands (Fig. 4 ) (present in Khuzimelissa ); pygidial plate with apex narrowly rounded, margins tapering more prominently in apical half (Fig. 24 ).

Etymology.

The generic name is an artificial combination of Bell, honoring explorer, archeologist, and nation-builder Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), and a subset of Meliturgula Friese, type genus of the subtribe Meliturgulina . The name is therefore treated as a euphonious combination of letters and the gender of the name is considered to be feminine.

Included species.

The genus includes at present only the type species, found in central Saudi Arabia.

Figures

Figures 1, 2. Female of Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n., at flowers of Carthamus L. (Asteraceae) in central Saudi Arabia.

Figures 5 - 7. Female faces of representative Meliturgulina. 5 Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n., from Saudi Arabia (note arched outer subantennal sulci) 6 Khuzimelissa deserta (Warncke), comb. n., from Pakistan 7 Flavomeliturgula (Flavomeliturgula) lacrymosa (Popov) from Iran (note straight outer subantennal sulci).

Figures 8 - 11. Female heads and mouthparts in profile and details of glossal apexes. 8 Head profile of Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n., from Saudi Arabia 9 glossal apex of B. najdica 10 head profile of Flavomeliturgula (Flavomeliturgula) lacrymosa (Popov) from Iran 11 glossal apex of F. (F.) lacrymosa.

Figures 12 - 15. Labial palpi of representative species (to same scale) and labiomaxillary complex of Khuzimelissa deserta (Warncke), comb. n. (not to same scale), all in ventral view. 12 Labial palpus of Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n. 13 labial palpus of K. deserta 14 labial palpus of Flavomeliturgula (Flavomeliturgula) lacrymosa (Popov) 15 photograph of labiomaxillary complex of K. deserta.

Figures 3, 4. Female of Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n., from central Saudi Arabia. 3 Lateral habitus 4 dorsal habitus.

Figures 24 - 26. Female pygidial plates. 24 Belliturgula najdica Engel, gen. et sp. n. 25 Khuzimelissa deserta (Warncke), comb. n. 26 Flavomeliturgula (Flavomeliturgula) lacrymosa (Popov).