Colletes morawitzensis Kuhlmann & Proshchalykin

Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu. & Kuhlmann, Michael, 2015, Type specimens of Colletes Latreille (Hymenoptera, Colletidae) deposited in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 3949 (4), pp. 540-554 : 551-553

Colletes morawitzensis Kuhlmann & Proshchalykin , sp. nov.

( Figs 31 a–f)

Diagnosis. Within the C. flavicornis -group in males a smooth and shiny, conspicuously raised clypeus is unique in C. morawitzensis ( Figs 31 c, d). Although the females of C. kaline Kuhlmann & Proshchalykin and C. pallipes Noskiewicz have a similarly formed clypeus, the males of both species are unknown. Colletes morawitzensis could be the male of either species—and it was collected at the same place and time of year as C. kaline —it appears to be unlikely that they are conspecific because it is of distinctively smaller body size (expected to be 1-2 mm larger in the males of C. kaline and C. pallipes ), the much elongated malar area and pilosity patterns of metasomal terga of the male (sparsely covered with short appressed hair) are very different from both species (cover of short appressed hair expected to be distinctly higher in males C. kaline and C. pallipes ) and beyond the usually observed level of sexual dimorphism in this species-group. Thus, we decided to describe this very unusual male as a new species. Description.

Female. Unknown.

Male. Bl = 7.5 mm. Head. Head much longer than wide ( Fig. 31 c). Integument black except apical part of clypeus, labrum and part of mandible dark reddish-brown. Face densely covered with long, greyish-white, erect hairs. Malar area medially about 1.5 times as long as width of mandible base, sparsely and very finely punctate, between punctures smooth and shiny ( Fig. 31 d). Antenna black, ventrally yellowish-brown. Mesosoma. Integument black. Mesoscutal disc between punctures smooth and shiny; disc very sparsely punctate (i = 3–5d) with small punctures. Scutellum anteriorly almost impunctate but with dense punctation posteriorly, surface smooth and shiny. Mesoscutum, scutellum, metanotum, mesepisternum and propodeum covered with long, greyish-white erect hairs ( Fig. 31 a). Wings. Slightly yellowish-brown; wing venation light yellowish-brown. Legs. Integument dark reddish-brown to yellowish-brown (tarsi). Vestiture greyish-white. Metasoma. Integument black to dark reddish-brown, apical quarter of T1 and T2 dark red, depressed apical tergal margins yellowish translucent ( Fig. 31 b). Basal half of T1 densely covered with long, white, erect hairs; base of T2 and less so on T3 with narrow band of short appressed white hairs; apical tergal hair band on T1 narrow (largely rubbed-off in this specimen), on following terga broader ( Fig. 31 b). Terga apically distinctly depressed. Terga with dense and very fine punctuation, on T1 more dispersed (i = 0.5–1 d) than on following terga (i <0.5 d), between punctures smooth and shiny ( Fig. 31 b). Terminalia. Genitalia and S7 as illustrated ( Figs. 31 e–f).

Type material (1 specimen). Holotype, male, Turkmenistan: Repetek [63°11´E 38°35´N], 19.V.1889 ( ZISP).

Etymology. The species is dedicated to Ferdinand Morawitz (1827–1896) to honour his outstanding contribution to bee research particularly in Central Asia.

General distribution. Only known from the type locality in Turkmenistan.

Floral hosts. Unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 31. Colletes morawitzensis Kuhlmann & Proshchalykin, sp. nov., ♂. a – lateral habitus; b—metasomal terga 1 and 2; c—head (frontal view); d—head (lateral view); e—gonostylus (lateral view); f—S 7 (dorsal view). Scale bar: 1 mm.