Andrena (incertae sedis) guttata Warncke, 1969

Pisanty, Gideon, Scheuchl, Erwin, Martin, Teresa, Cardinal, Sophie & Wood, Thomas James, 2022, Twenty-five new species of mining bees (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae: Andrena) from Israel and the Levant, Zootaxa 5185 (1), pp. 1-109 : 85-87

Andrena (incertae sedis) guttata Warncke, 1969

( Figs. 204–209 )

Male ( Fig. 204 ).

Body length: 7 mm.

Colour. Body black ( Fig. 204 ). Flagellum black basally, flagellomeres 2–10 ventrally lightened brownish-orange ( Fig. 205 ). Apical tarsal segments lightened orange. Wings hyaline, stigma orange centrally with dark orange margin, venation dark orange ( Fig. 204 ). Tergal marginal zones lightened brown ( Fig. 207 ).

Pubescence. Face, paraocular area, frons, gena and vertex with long white hairs ( Figs. 204–205 ). Mesonotum and scutellum, mesepisternum and propodeum with long white hairs ( Figs. 204, 206 ). Leg hair whitish ( Fig. 204 ). Tergal discs with shortish white hair, longer laterally. Marginal zones of terga 2–4 with very weak hair fringes formed laterally ( Fig. 207 ).

Head ( Figs. 205–206 ). 1.4 times broader than long. Labral process short, slightly broader than long, with upturned fore margin. Clypeus weakly domed, covered with slightly raised latitudinal wrinkles with interspersed punctures, punctures separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameters. Underlying surface shagreened, weakly shining. Paraocular area with clear and dense punctures, punctures separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameter. Frons with fine network of raised rugae, dull. Flagellomere 1 slightly longer than 2, clearly shorter than 2+3 ( Fig. 205 ). Ocelloccipital distance 2 times diameter of lateral ocellus. Genal area equals width of compound eye ( Fig. 206 ).

Mesosoma ( Fig. 206 ). Pronotum without elevated dorsolateral angle. Mesonotum and scutellum with fine granular microreticulation, weakly shining. Surface unevenly punctured with shallow punctures, punctures laterally separated by 0.5 puncture diameters, becoming sparser centrally, here separated by 1–3 puncture diameters ( Fig. 206 ). Mesepisternum and propodeum with fine granular microreticulation and fine network of raised rugae, weakly shining. Propodeal triangle laterally delineated by fine carinae, internal surface with finer-grained reticulation, basally with short longitudinal rugae. Hind pretarsal claws with strong inner tooth. Recurrent vein 1 reaching submarginal cell 2 distal to its middle. Submarginal crossvein 1 meets marginal cell 5 vein widths from stigma. Nervulus antefurcal ( Fig. 204 ).

Metasoma ( Fig. 207 ). Tergal discs with very fine shagreen, generally shining. Tergum 1 finely and sparsely punctate, punctures separated by 2–4 puncture diameters, 2–4 with larger and denser punctures, punctures separated by 2–3 puncture diameters. Tergal margins weakly depressed, occupying 0.2 of tergal length.

Genitalia and hidden sterna ( Figs. 208–209 ). Genital capsule with gonocoxites produced into large rounded dorsal lobes. Gonostyli narrow basally, broadening apically, flattened and spatulate. Penis valves broad basally, narrowing medially ( Fig. 208 ). Sternum 8 columnar, parallel sided, apically truncate, ventral face densely covered with short whitish hairs ( Fig. 209 ).

Diagnosis. The male of A. guttata bears little resemblance to the female, and is much smaller. Its true identity could only be confirmed with the aid of DNA barcoding ( Table 2 ). It is difficult to diagnose, as it lacks clear and distinctive features, and resembles the male of the related A. corax Warncke. Both species share a dark integument, flagellomere 1 slightly longer than flagellomere 2, head broader than long, long ocelloccipital distance, weakly defined propodeal triangle that is primarily recognised by fine lateral carinae, the internal surface without the fine network of raised reticulation present on the dorsolateral faces of the propodeum, the finely punctured terga, and the genital capsule with strong but rounded apical gonocoxal teeth, penis valves that are broad basally and narrow apically, and elongate gonostyli that are apically spatulate and slightly narrowed medially with a slight kink in the inner margin subapically. The two species can be separated by the much smaller body size of A. guttata ( A. corax males 10–11 mm in length), antefurcal nervulus (interstitial in A. corax ), and the more strongly shagreened and more regularly punctate galea, punctures separated by 1–2 puncture diameters (shagreen of galea weaker, surface shining, punctures separated by 1–4 puncture diameters in A. corax ).

Distribution: Southern Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, West Bank.

Flight period: February–May.

Flower records: Resedaceae : Caylusea hexagyna .

Material examined: PARATYPES: ISRAEL: Beersheba , 28.iv.1940, H. Bytinski-Salz (1♀) ; Mishmar Ha- Negev [Mishm. Hanegev], 2.iii.19??, H. Bytinski-Salz (1♀) ( SMNHTAU) ; non-type material: ISRAEL: Be’er Mash’abbim [Asluj], 10.iv.1946, H. Bytinski-Salz (8♀) ; Negev , Ramat Ovda, 16.iv.1997, Y. Nadler (1♀) ; WEST BANK: Nabi Musa , 1.iii.2015, T. Jumah (2♀) ; Nabi Musa Road , 22.ii.2014, A. Gotlieb (1♂) ; 12.iv.2014, A. Gotlieb, on Caylusea hexagyna (3♀); Nahal Darga , Mashash Morabat, 13.iii.2015, T. Jumah (1♀) ( SMNHTAU) .

Remarks. New COI barcode data (TJW, unpublished) suggests that Andrena guttata most likely belongs to the Andrena relata species group, which includes A. corax Warncke , A. laurivora Warncke , A. leucura Warncke , A. macroptera Warncke , A. melaleuca Pérez , A. murana Warncke , A. relata Warncke , and possibly A. hibernica Warncke (but not A. farinosa Pérez and A. oviventris Pérez ). Multiple examined Central Asian Andrena species also clearly belong to this group, but type examination is required before their true names can be used confidently. Most of the species in this group have been formely assigned to the polyphyletic subgenus Poliandrena , now a synonym of Ulandrena ( Pisanty et al. 2022) . We believe that this group most likely represents a monophyletic clade which is part of the early-diverging clade 7 of Andrena in the molecular phylogeny of Pisanty et al., and thus merits erection of a new subgenus.

Figures

FIGURES 204 –212. Andrena (incertae sedis) guttata Warncke. 204. male habitus, 205. male head, 206. male head and mesosoma, 207. male terga 1–3, 208. male genitalia, 209. male eighth sternum. Andrena (incertae sedis) hulae sp. nov. 210. female habitus, 211. female head, 212. female head and mesosoma.