Megachile cognata Smith.

Eardley, Connal, 2012, A taxonomic revision of the southern African species of the subgenus Creightonella Cockerell (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Megachile Latreille), Zootaxa 3159, pp. 1-35 : 5-9

Megachile cognata Smith.

Figs 1–3

Megachile cognata Smith, 1853: 165 , female holotype (NHML) South Africa.

Creightoniella [!] cognata (Smith) : Pasteels 1965: 13, 17, 20, 46–48, 49, 50, 523.

Creightonella cognata (Smith) : Pasteels 1970: 214; Schulten 1977: 46 –47.

Megachile sexdentata Friese, 1903: 273 –274, male syntypes (ZMHB, HNHM) Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia [not Robertson 1895]; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Megachile (Creightonella) sexdentata Friese : Cockerell 1908b: 147.

Megachile hexadonta Cockerell, 1931: 163 [replacement name for Megachile sexdentata Friese, 1903 , not Robertson 1895].

Megachile (Creightonella) mitimia Cockerell, 1908b: 146 –147, male holotype (NHML) Angola; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Creightonella mitimia (Cockerell) : Michener 1997: 17.

Megachile rufa var. profusca Vachal, 1910: 306 , female syntypes (MRAC) Zambia; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Megachile profusa Vachal : Cockerell 1933e: 147.

Megachile cognata var. claripennis Friese, 1915: 293 , female holotype (ZMHB) Tanzania. Syn. nov.

Megachile natalensis Friese, 1921: 1104, 1110 –1111, lectotype (here designated) (ZMHB) South Africa & Tanzania. Syn. nov.

Megachile congruens natalensis Friese : Pasteels 1965: 394.

Megachile arnoldi Friese, 1922: 22 –23, female holotype (type depository unknown) Zimbabwe; Pasteels 1965: 51, syn.; Rasmussen and Ascher 2008: 26.

Megachile (Creightonella) calloleuca Cockerell, 1933d: 136 –137, male holotype (NHML) South Africa; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Megachile calloleucops Cockerell, 1937: 152 [replacement name for Megachile calloleuca Cockerell, 1933d , not Cockerell, 1922].

Megachile lomamiensis Cockerell, 1933e: 147 , female holotype (MRAC) Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Megachile (Creightonella) platyura Cockerell, 1933e: 151 –152, male holotype (MRAC) Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pasteels 1965: 46, syn.

Discussion. Smith (1853) described this species from the Cape of Good Hope. Otherwise it is known from the northern parts of southern African, and areas further north, making the type locality questionable. The holotype was studied. Friese (1903) described it as sexdentata , a name preoccupied by Robertson (1895). Cockerell (1931) therefore proposed the replacement name hexadentata. A syntype of s exdentata Friese has been studied. Pasteels (1965) synonymized cognata and sexdentata .

Cockerell (1908b) described mitimia , and Pasteels (1965) synonymized cognata and mitima . The holotype of mitima has been studied but the head is missing and the vestiture is mostly lost. Pasteels (1965) synonymy could therefore not be confirmed, but is accepted.

Vachal (1910) described rufa var. profusca from Zambia and Pasteels (1965) synonymized it with cognata . The type material has been studied and this synonymy is confirmed. Friese (1915) described rufa var. claripennis . The synonymy of claripennis with cognata is here proposed, following the study of the type material. Friese (1921) described natalensis from South Africa. The type material has been studied and the male syntypes are M. schulthessi , the female syntype is M. cognata . Donald Baker labelled the female syntype of natalensis from Kwa- Zulu-Natal (‘Krantzkloof’) as the lectotype of this species but did not publish this designation. It is here designated. He also indicated that the type series of natalensis is composite. Pasteels (1965) made natalensis a subspecies of congruens . Study of the type found this to be incorrect and it is here synonymized with cognata . Friese (1922) described arnoldi from Zimbabwe. The holotype has not been studied. It was synonymized with ikuthaensis by Pasteels (1965), here a junior synonym of cognata . Cockerell (1933d) described calloleuca and later ( Cockerell 1937) replaced this name with calloleucops because the former name was preoccupied by an American species described by Cockerell (1922). Cockerell (1933e) described both lomamiensis and platyura . Pasteels (1965) synonymized cognata , calloleucops , lomamiensis and platyura . The type material has been studied and these synonymies are confirmed.

Diagnosis. Female. Vestiture, head and mesosoma black; metasoma orange ( Fig. 1a–b ). Lengths: face 4.0– 4.2 mm, scutum 3.2–3.5 mm, forewing 12.0–13.0 mm, body 16.5–17.0 mm. Structure. Clypeus about three times as wide as long, gently raised above, densely punctuate, ventral edge straight ( Fig. 1a ); clypeocellus:clypeus 1:0.6; mandible with 5 teeth, recessed cutting edges in second, third and forth interspaces ( Fig. 1a , 2a ); scopal hairs blunt, not thickened distally.

Male. Vestiture, head, mesosomal venter and metasoma venter pallid (white, pale brown or pale orange), mesosomal dorsum and upper mesepisternum black; legs mostly pallid, middle and hind tarsi black; metasomal dorsum orange ( Fig. 1c–d ). Lengths: face 3.5–3.7 mm, scutum 2.4–2.6 mm, forewing 9.8 –12.0 mm, body 13.5 –14.1 mm. Structure. Clypeus gently convex above, ventral edge gently concave mediolaterally, weakly tuberculate medially; mandible three apical teeth, one large tooth on ventral edge; foretarsus unmodified; T6 shield–like, with mediolongitudinal carina, distinctly concave posteromedially, distal margin toothed ( Fig 2b ); T7 with mediolongitudinal keel, pointed posteromedially; S4 with stout, black outer and fine, orange inner tubercles ( Fig. 2c ); S6, S8 and gonocoxite as illustrated ( Fig. 2d–f ).

Distribution ( Fig. 3 ). Although described from the Cape of Good Hope, which is usually the Cape Town area, this species is otherwise only known in southern Africa from the northern regions of South Africa, except for one record from northern Namibia. Botswana has been poorly collected and it is plausible that there is a continuous distribution from South Africa through Botswana to northern Namibia. The term ‘Cape of Good Hope’ is assumed to have been used generically for the southern African region.

Biology. Megachile cognata has been recorded on flowers of Mentha sp.

Material examined. Type material. Female holotype of Megachile cognata : ‘ Type, B.M. TYPE HYM. 17a 2198, Megachile cognata Type Sm., F. Smith Coll 79–22, Africa’, in NHML. Male syntype of Megachile sexdentata : ‘SW Africa Ondonga 1897 Rautanen, Megachile 6–dentata male Fr. 1900 Friese det., Type, Coll. Friese, Zool. Mus Berlin, Creightonella mitimia det Ister’, [17.55S 15.57E] in ZMHB. Male holotype of Megachile ikuthaensis : ‘Br. O Afr. Ikutha 1898, Megachile ikuthaensis , female Fr. 1900 Friese, det., Type Coll. Friese’, in ZMHB. Male holotype Megachile mitima : ‘ Type B.M. TYPE HYM. 17a 2731, Ekuvia Valley Ps. Mint (Wellman), M. mitima Ckll TYPE’, in NHML. Female syntypes of Megachile rufa var. profusca : ‘ TYPE; MUSEE DU CONGO Dr. Sheffield Neave MPIKA XII.07; Megachile cognata Sm. J. Pasteels 1960 ; rufa Fr. var perfusca Vach. ; Creightonella cognata Sm. J. Pasteels det. 1961; M. fura profusca n. sp. Type det. Vachal 1910 ’, in MRAC. Female syntypes of Megachile rufa var. profusca : ‘ TYPE; MUSEE DU CONGO Dr. Sheffield Neave CHUNDA XII.07; Megachile cognata Sm. J. Pasteels 1960 ; Creightonella cognata Sm. J. Pasteels det. 1961; M. rufa profusca n. sp. Type det. Vachal 1910 ’, in MRAC. Female holotype of Megachile cognata var. claripennis : ‘D.O. Africa Lukuledi 1905, Megachile cognata v. claripennis female Fr. 1914 Friese det., Type, Coll. Friese, Zool. Mus. Berlin, HOLOTYPE Megachile claripennis Fr, 1915 = Chalicodoma kigonseranum ( Fr. 1903) Det. D.B. Baker 1981 ’, in ZMHB. Female lectotype of Megachile natalensis : ‘Krantzkloof, Howick N. Natal 2.–3. 908 (Junod), Megachile natalensis Fr. female 1915 Friese det., Coll Friese, Zool. Mus. Berlin, LECTOTYPE Megachile natalensis Fr., 1921 female Det. D.B. Baker 1979 = Creightonella cognata ( Sm., 1853) ’, [28.51S 30.43E] in ZMHB. Male holotype of Megachile calloleuca : ‘ Type B.M. TYPE HYM 17a 2076, Megachile (Creightonella) calloleuca Ckll. TYPE, Pretoria Transvaal, Jan 1 1917, RH, Megachile sp. M. calloleucops n.n. Ckll 1935’, [25.45S 28.10E] in NHML. Female holotype of Megachile lomamiensis : MRAC – TYPE M. lomamiensis ; MUSEE DU CONGO Lomam: Mutombo–Mukulu III.1931 P. Quarre; Megachile lomamiensis Ckll TYPE; Megachile cognata Sm. J. Pasteels det., 1960’, in MRAC. Male holotype of Megachile platyura : ‘ TYPE; MUSEE DU CONGO Elisabethville iii.1981 Dr M. Bequaert; Megachile platyura TYPE subg. Creightonella ; Creightonella cognata Sm. J. Pasteels det. 1961’ in MRAC.

Additional material. South Africa. Malta [24.10S 30.14E], i.1928, G. van Son (2 females, TMSA); Lydenburg [26.06S 30.27E], 1896, P. Kranz (1 female, TMSA, 1 male, SANC); Nylsvley [24.39S 28.42E], x.1978, G. Ferreira (3 females, SANC); Retief’s Kloof, Rustenburg [25.49S 27.16E], 13.iv.1960, 13.iv.1963, H. Empey (2 females, SANC); OTK Reserve, Loskop Dam, 25.27S 29.24E, 9–11.xii.1985, C. Eardley (1 female 5 males, SANC); Brummaria, Pretoria, 28.v.1975, C. Stirton (1 female 1 male, SANC); Pretoria, 19.xii.1959, A. Capener (1 male, SANC); Mogol Nature Reserve, near Ellisras, 23.58S 27.45E, 19–23.xi.1979, M. Mansell (1 male, SANC); Pienaars River [25.12S 28.17E], 1898, V. Jutrzencka (1 female, SANC); Dome Pools Area [25.04S 27.32E], Magaliesburg, 24.iii.1979, R. Watmough (1 female, SANC); Bella Bella [24.52S 28.14E], i.1972, I. van Wyk (1 female, SANC); Johannesburg [26.11S 28.03E], xii.1905, G. Kobrow (2 females, SANC); Bothaville [27.22S 26.37E], 25.vii.1898, H. Brauns (2 males, SANC).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Known distribution of Megachile cognata.

FIGURE 1 a – d. Megachile cognata. a. Female face. b. Female habitus. c. Male face. d. Male habitus.

FIGURE 2 a – f. Megachile cognata. a. Female mandible. b – f. Male. b. T 6. c. S 4. d. S 6. e. S 8. f. Genital capsule.