Anthidium preoccipitale, Kasparek, 2021

Kasparek, Max, 2021, Revision and description of three new species of the Palaearctic subgenus Gulanthidium of the wool carder bee genus Anthidium (Apoidea: Megachilidae: Anthidiini), Zootaxa 5040 (4), pp. 482-506 : 499-500

Anthidium preoccipitale sp. nov.

( Fig. 8D , 9C, 9F , 10 , 14 )

Type material. Holotype (male). “Surabad / Typus / Turkestan 189 / Anthidium anguliventre F. Mor. / http://coll. mfn-berlin.de/u” ( ZMB). Note: Surabad is not located in Turkmenistan as indicated on the label and by Friese (1898), but in Iran as found out by Baker (1998) based on the travel itinerary of the collector, D. K. Glasonov [Glazunov]. Coordinates: 35° 43°N, 61°05’E. Genitalia are dissected (by F. Friese?) and available, but their preservation status does not allow examination of the relevant traits.

Diagnosis. The most similar species is A. rotundum with which the male shares particularly the median furrow on S6. However, it is distinguished from that species and all other members of the subgenus by a strong lamella on the preoccipital ridge. Punctation on tergal discs more scattered than in A. rotundum . T2 laterally rounded (lateral tooth present in A. rotundum ).

Description. Male. 10 mm. Head: Clypeus flat, anterior margin straight, posterior margin shallowly emarginate; apical margin brown, smooth; median third of clypeus almost impunctate; mandible yellow with three strong teeth; supraclypeal and lower paraocular area yellow, upper paraocular area with yellow band along inner orbit of eye and confluent with yellow maculation on vertex; vertex with broad ochreous to yellow transverse band, confluent with yellow gena; strong lamella (approx. 0.13 mm high) extending to height of middle of eye; antenna ochreous; underside of scape yellow.— Mesosoma: Scutum black, densely punctated; broad L-shaped anterolateral yellow band; remnants of a thin yellow longitudinal line next to the middle; scutellum and axillae yellow, scutellum with some black colouration anteriorly and with median emargination; axilla slightly protruding laterally; propodeal triangle rugulose, coarser at base than apically; upper half of mesepisternum yellow, lower half black; pronotal lobe lamellate.— Metasoma: Tergal discs punctate, with distance between punctures up to 1–2 puncture diameter; depressions T1–T6 chestnut-brown; T3–T6 each with a lateral tooth, small in T3 and becoming larger towards T6; teeth flat with transparent lamella-like margin; disc of T6 bulging on each side of the middle; T7 semicircular with transparent margin ( Figs 8D , 9C ); S6 semicircular with median furrow and lateral depression ( Fig. 9F ).— Legs: Yellow, inner faces black or dark brown; hind basitarsus with longitudinal carina.

Morphometry. Some measurements of the male holotype of A. preoccipitale were compared with a series (N=14) of males A. rotundum (see under “material examined” there): the ocellocular distance, the hind ocellus-vertex distance, the distance between the posterior ocelli, and the distance between anterior and posterior ocelli. None of these measurements alone was strong enough to distinguish A. preoccipitale from A. rotundum . However, the combination of these five parameters showed in a Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) that the discriminant score of A. preoccipitale is higher than in A. rotundum ( Fig. 15 ), and this may be understood as further indication for the distinctiveness of A. preoccipitale .

Derivatio nominis. The name refers to the preoccipital ridge which bears a distinct lamella.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. Only known from the type locality, situated in north-eastern Iran ( Fig. 12 ).

Remarks. The holotype of A. preoccipitale male was provided to H. Friese together with a female Anthidium from the same location, and both specimens were regarded by him as paratypes of A. anguliventre . As the collection date and other details are not available, it cannot be said whether these two specimens were actually collected together. The identity of the female as A. anguliventre was confirmed here by a flat clypeus with a medially wide impunctate middle area, the punctation of T5 reaching the posterior margin, the laterally rounded T1–T2, and the presence of blunt teeth on T3–T5. In a Discriminant Function Analysis of six morphometric parameters of the clypeus, the female specimen also clearly clustered with A. anguliventre . Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that this female is the unknown female of A. preoccipitale which would then be indistinguishable from A. anguliventre on the basis of external characters.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Apical terga of the male of five species of Anthidium, subgenus Gulanthidium: A. Anthidium anguliventre; B. A. eremicum; C. A. occidentale sp. nov.; D. A. preoccipitale sp. nov.; E. A. rotundum.

FIGURE 9. Male of Anthidium, subgenus Gulanthidium. Apical terga (upper row) in dorsal and sternum 6 (S6) in ventral view. A + D. Anthidium anguliventre; B + E. A. eremicum and A. occidentale; C + F. A. preoccipitale and A. rotundum.

FIGURE 10. Schematic view of the head in the species of Anthidium, subgenus Gulanthidium. A. Lateral view; B. Dorsal view.

FIGURE 12. Distribution of A. eremicum, A. flavissimum sp. nov., A. occidentale sp. nov., and A. preoccipitale sp. nov.

FIGURE 14. Anthidium preoccipitale sp. nov. Head in frontal and lateral view. Note the lamella on the high preoccipital ridge (A) and the upwards projecting vertex with a sharply angular preoccipital ridge (B).

FIGURE 15. Comparison of some morphometric parameters regarding the distance of the ocelli from the eye and the preoccipital ridge (four parameters) between male Anthidium rotundum (grey) (N=14) and A. preoccipitale sp. nov. (scarlet) (N=1), based on a Discriminant Function Analysis.