Zonamegilla Popov, 1950

Leijs, Remko, Batley, Michael & Hogendoorn, Katja, 2017, The genus Amegilla (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Anthophorini) in Australia: A revision of the subgenera Notomegilla and Zonamegilla, ZooKeys 653, pp. 79-140 : 104

Subgenus Zonamegilla Popov, 1950

Zonamegilla Popov, 1950, p. 260.

Type.

Apis zonata Linnaeus, 1758 (original designation).

Diagnosis.

Length 10-14 mm; most species with blue, green, white, or occasionally orange, metallic hair bands on metasomal terga; pale paraocular markings present in both sexes; maxiliary palpus with 6 segments; S5 of male apicomedially broadly to narrowly emarginate; S6 of male with lateral depressions on apical third, sometimes with a median protuberance, tuft of black hair apicomedially.

Description.

The following description refers to the Australian species of Zonamegilla (see Brooks 1988 for a full description of the subgenus).

Female. Structure. Head: wider than long; inner orbits diverging above; f3-9 about equal in length. Coloration. Integument black, except yellow or pale yellow marks on labrum, mandibles, clypeus, scape, paraocular and supraclypeal area (marks are ivory in pulchra ). Pubescence. Head: gena with white hairs. Legs: forecoxa and femur posteriorly light ginger in paeninsulae , white in all other species, hair of anterior face of femur and tibia white or ginger; mid and hind legs dark or black, but lighter coloured on apex of femur, on outer surface of tibia and on base of basitarsus. Metasoma: apical hair bands on T1-T4; parts not covered by hair bands dark brown or black in Amegilla alpha , black in all other species. Punctation. Head: clypeus somewhat shiny, close to dense punctation, interspaces pit-reticulate; labrum interspaces almost smooth in murrayensis and adelaidae , reticulate in other species. Thorax: scutum with small, shallow punctures; interspaces almost smooth. Metasoma: T1-T5 somewhat shiny, with fine, shallow punctures, interspaces pit-reticulate.

Male. Structure. Head: wider than long; inner orbits diverging above; f3-10 about equal in length. Metasoma: apicomedial margin of T7 bilobed. Coloration. Integument black, except yellow or pale yellow marks on labrum, mandibles, clypeus, scape, paraocular and supraclypeal area (marks are ivory in pulchra ). Pubescence. Head: gena with white hair. Thorax: sterna pale orange in paeninsulae , white in all other species. Legs: forefemur posteriorly with long, light coloured hairs; coxa greyish white in paeninsulae , white in all other species; mid and hind legs: dark or black, with lighter coloured hairs on apex of femur, outer surface of tibia and basitarsus. Metasoma: apical hair bands on T1-T5; parts not covered by hair bands dark brown in walkeri , black in all other species. S6 dark except in paeninsulae , thorogoodi and cingulata . Punctation. Head: clypeus dull, with open shallow punctures, interspaces rough pit-reticulate in karlba , pit-reticulate in all other species; labrum somewhat shiny, interspaces pit-reticulate; scutum: interspaces almost smooth. Metasoma: interspaces pit-reticulate.

Distribution.

India, South East Asia including southern China, and Australia.

Included Australian species.

adelaidae , alpha , asserta , cingulata , thorogoodi , indistincta , karlba , murrayensis , paeninsulae , pulchra , viridicingulata and walkeri .