Tetralonioidella Strand, 1914

Dubitzky, Andreas, 2007, Revision of the Habropoda and Tetralonioidella species of Taiwan with comments on their host-parasitoid relationships (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae), Zootaxa 1483 (1), pp. 41-68 : 56

Genus Tetralonioidella Strand, 1914

Tetralonioidella Strand, 1914 (April/May): 140. Type species: Tetralonia ? hoozana Strand, 1914 , monobasic.

Protomelissa Friese, 1914 (June) : 322. Type species: Protomelissa iridescens Friese, 1914 , by designation of Sandhouse, 1943: 592.

Callomelecta Cockerell, 1926: 621 . Type species: Callomelecta pendleburyi Cockerell, 1926 , by original designation.

The genus Tetralonioidella was conditionally erected by Strand (1914) in his original description of Tetralonia (?) hoozana (= Tetralonioidella hoozana ) from Taiwan. The "description" and designation of T. hoozana as type species (being the first included in the genus) was rediscovered by Lieftinck (1983) and has nomenclatorical priority over Protomelissa Friese, 1914 , which was published one month later. Tetralonioidella is an exclusively Oriental bee genus and contains 10 species. It ranges from northern India and Nepal along the Himalayas through southeast China and Taiwan, as well as Thailand and Malaysia and as far south as Sumatra and Java. The genus comprises rather slender, melectine bees, which differ from other Melectini in the following characters: Marginal cell distinctly longer than distance from its apex to wing tip, exceeding third submarginal cell, usually slightly shorter than three submarginal cells together; scutellum convex, with distinct longitudinal carina in the middle and two ventrally curved spines laterally; metasoma uniformly covered with feathery appressed hairs, typical lateral hair patches of pale short pubescence on metasoma absent (sometimes conspicuous hair bands of yellowish to reddish brown hairs developed).

The long marginal cell as well as the uniform pubescence of the metasoma are plesiomorphic among bees and therefore suggest a basal position of Tetralonioidella within Melectini. Perhaps Tetralonioidella forms the sister group to the remaining melectine genera.

With three species, Tetralonioidella is most diverse on Taiwan. Two species have been recorded from India, and except for Taiwan, only a single species is known from each of the remaining countries ( Table 1). This is remarkable considering the small area of Taiwan, in contrast to the large size of the other areas listed in Table 1. Furthermore, only 4 species of Habropoda and one species of Elaphropoda ( Wu, 2000) , which are the hosts of Tetralonioidella , have been recorded from Taiwan, so far. Yet, both anthophorine genera show their greatest diversity in mainland China. It is entirely possibly that several more species of Tetralonioidella will be discovered there.