Nomia (Gnathonomia) thoracica Smith, 1875

Zhang, Dan, Niu, Ze-Qing, Orr, Michael C., Ascher, John S. & Zhu, Chao-Dong, 2020, Chinese species of Nomia (Gnathonomia) Pauly, 2005 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea Halictidae: Nomiinae), Zootaxa 4768 (1), pp. 76-94 : 85-88

Nomia (Gnathonomia) thoracica Smith, 1875

( Figs 7–9 )

Nomia thoracica Smith, 1875a: 45 , ♀, ♂. Lectotype: ♂, Calcutta; NHMUK, designated by Baker (1993: 259).

Nomia albofasciata Smith, 1875b: 57 , ♀. Holotype: ♀, Java; NHMUK, designated by Baker (1993: 259); Synonymy by Baker (1993: 259).

Paranomia stantoni Ashmead, 1904: 4 , ♂. Holotype: ♂, Philippines: Manila. USNM, Synonymy by Pauly (2009: 155).

Nomia thoracica excellens Cockerell, 1931c: 40 , ♂ (nec. Cockerell, 1929; nec. Friese, 1930). Holotype: ♂, China: Foochow (Fuzhou); USNM. Synonymy by Pauly (2009: 155).

Nomia thoracica melior Cockerell, 1931b: 281 , replacement name of Nomia excellens .

Diagnosis. This species is unusually distinctive because both sexes can be identified by mesoscutum and scutellum fully covered with dense and short felt-like hairs ( Fig. 7c ). Male. Mandible with projection ventroapically ( Fig. 7b ); hind femur well developed, swollen ( Fig. 7e ); hind tibia curved toward inside, exteriorly swollen gradually to apex ( Fig. 7f ); apical margin of T2–5 with white or yellowish bands ( Fig. 7e ). Female. Similar to male. Clypeus and legs normal; basitibial plate delimited by carina at anterior and both sides ( Fig. 9e ); apical margin of T1–5 covered in white or yellowish bands ( Fig. 9f ).

Redescription. Male. BL= 10–12 mm ( Fig. 7c ), body blackish-brown. Head. HL: HW=0.83, head broader than long ( Fig. 7a ); GW: EW=0.85, eye much broader than gena; interocellar distance equal to ocellocular distance ( Fig. 7a ); frons and vertex with dense punctures; frons with smooth frontal line medially ( Fig. 5a ); mandible well developed, blackish-brown or reddish-brown, with one tooth on upper margin medially ( Fig. 7a ); clypeus bumpy and enlarged at rim ( Fig. 7a ); ventral surface of mandible with projection apically ( Fig. 7b ); vertex with rounded posterior margin ( Fig. 7c ); antenna reaching apical margin of tegula ( Fig. 7c ); scape nearly equal F1–3 together in length ( Fig. 7a ); F1 slightly enlarged, nearly as long as broad ( Fig. 7a ); F1 about 0.5 times as long as F2 ( Fig. 7a ); F2–10 almost equal in length, nearly twice as long as broad; F11 rounded apically, nearly 2.1–2.2 times as long as broad; ocelli normal, not enlarged. Mesosoma. Upper lateral surface of propodeum with fine punctures; metapostnotum with narrow longitudinal wrinkles; inclined part of metapostnotum narrowly triangular and shiny ( Fig. 7d ); fore wing with three submarginal cells, 1 st submarginal almost equal to 3 rd submarginal cell in length, about twice as long as 2 nd submarginal cell ( Fig. 7d ); tegula normal, not enlarged ( Fig. 7c ); legs brown ( Fig. 7c ); hind femur well developed ( Fig. 7f ); hind tibia curved toward inside, exteriorly swollen gradually to apex ( Fig. 7f ). Metasoma. Metasomal terga dull, with dense minute punctures; apical margin of T2–5 with white or yellowish bands ( Fig. 7c, 7e ); S5 round apically, apical margin with two hair brushes medially ( Fig. 8a ); S6 deeply thickened apically ( Fig. 8b ); S7 as showing in Fig. 8e; S8 as showing in Fig. 8f ; upper margin of gonostylus rounded, as showing in Fig. 8a (in ventral view) and Fig. 8b (in lateral view). Pubescence. Clypeus, supraclypeal area and frons with dense short yellowish hairs ( Fig. 7a ); mesoscutum and scutellum completely covered with short yellowish-brown felt-like hairs and mixed with some black setae ( Fig. 7 c–d); metanotum with fine dense yellowish hairs ( Fig. 7d ); upper lateral surface of propodeum with long yellowish hairs ( Fig. 7d ); legs with sparse short hairs ( Fig. 7c ); metasomal terga with sparse yellowish hairs ( Fig. 7c, 7 e–f); S3–4 with sparse long yellowish hairs.

Female. BL= 10–12 mm. Similar to male, except the following: clypeus and mandible normal, not modified ( Fig. 9a ); basal area of fore basitarsus with groove ( Fig. 9d ); upper lateral surface of propodeum with sparse punctures ( Fig. 9c ); metapostnotum with narrow longitudinal wrinkles ( Fig. 9c ); vertical area of metapostnotum narrowly triangular and dull ( Fig. 9c ); apical margin of T1–5 with white or yellowish bands, but colored bands on T3–5 sometimes disappeared ( Fig. 9f ); apical margin of S3–5 with hair bands.

Material examined. China: Beijing: 44 ♀, 15 ♂, Wofosi (40°00′19″N, 116°12′17″E), 124m, 10~ 12.VI.1961, leg. Su-Mei Ge; 6 ♀ 4 ♂, Badachu (39°56′33″N, 116°11′20″E), 72m, 24.VII.1961, 21.VI.1961, leg. Su-Mei Ge; 7 ♂, Laohudongkou (40°02′04″N, 116°17′04″E), 51m, 20.VI.1964, leg. Su-Mei Ge; Fujian: 1 ♀, Shaowu (27°20′03″N, 116°57′25″E), 373m, 31.VII.1979, leg. Shi-Mei Song; 1 ♀, Fu’an (26°51′52″N, 119°14′32″E), 192m, 29.VIII.1963; Guangxi: 1 ♂, Guilin (25°16′07″N, 110°10′49″E), 179m, 11.VII.1963; leg. Chun-Guang Wang; Hainan: 6 ♀, 31.VII.1934, leg. Qi He; 1 ♀, Tongshi (18°43′21″N, 109°18′06″E), 625m, 3.VIII.1960, leg. Shang-Fu Li; 3 ♀, Ying- gen (19°01′37″N, 109°49′21″E), 390m, 4.VII.1960, leg. Xue-Zhong Zhang; Hebei: 2 ♀, Dongling (40°01′42″N, 115°27′16″E), 2097m, 8.VII.1963, leg. Tai-Lu Chen; Hubei: 1 ♀, Xuanen (29°38′15″N, 109°05′32″E), 1019m, 5.VIII.1989, leg. Long-long Yang; Hunan: 1 ♀, Guzhang (28°27′14″N, 109°48′59″E), 507m, 31.VII.1988, leg. Long-Long Yang; Jiangsu: 2 ♀, Chinkiang (Zhenjiang) (29°26′07″N, 116°41′43″E), 372m, 11. VIII.1918, 5.IX.1918; Liaoning: 1 ♀, 22.VI.1989, leg. Cheng-De Yuan; Qinghai: Guinan (35°53′31″N, 100°01′01″E), 3091m, 1 ♀, 6.VI.1957, leg. Yi-Ran Zhang; Sichuan: 1 ♀, Pengshui (29°11′10″N, 107°35′31″E), 735m, 9.VII.1989, leg. Da-Wei Huang; Shandong: 37 ♀ 39 ♂, Tsinanfou Long tong (Jinan, Fulong) (36°38′13″N, 116°48′14″E), 31m; Shanghai: 2 ♂, (31°06′09″N, 121°07′14″E), 4m, 16. VIII.1947, leg. Chun-Guang Wang; Shaanxi: 1 ♀, Qin- yuan, Guodao (36°40′30″N, 112°18′30″E), 970m, 2.VIII.1991, leg. Jian Yao; Xizang: 1 ♀, Motuo (28°05′19″N, 93°03′18″E), 1942m, 30.V.1982, leg. Yin-Heng Han; Yunnan: 7 ♀, Xishuangbanna (22°08′00″N, 100°34′42″E), 700m, 22.VIII.1958, leg. Yi-Ran Zhang; Zhejiang, 8 ♀ 8 ♂, Chusan (Zhoushan) (30°17′00″N, 121°41′39″E), 7m, 17~ 18.VII.1939, leg. O. Piel.

Distribution. Cambodia (Siem Reap, new record of bee found by S. De Greef and identified by JSA); China (Beijing, Guangxi, Hainan, Hebei, Hong Kong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Macao, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shandong, Shanghai, Shaanxi, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang); India (Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal); Indonesia (Bali, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi) Laos (Vientiane); Malaysia (Johor, Kedah on Langkawi Island, Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor); Philippines (Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan); Myanmar; Singapore; Thailand (Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Kanchanaburi, Loei, Nan, Nakhon Pathom, Phetchabun, Phayao, Ranong, Saraburi, Surat Thani on Koh Samui Island, Trang, Yala; several new province records provided by N. Warrit, pers. comm.) (most recorded including new ones previously reported online by Ascher & Pickering 2019).

Floral associations. Zizyphus spinosus (Rhamnaceae) , Vitex negundo, Heterophylla (Anisophylleaceae) , Hibiscus syriacus (Malvaceae) , Homonoia riparia (Euphorbiaceae) , Leonurus artemisia (Labiatae) ; Buddleja sp. ( Loganiaceae ). Source: Huang (2008) for China.

Remarks. We follow Pauly (2009) in treating N. thoracica , the most widely distributed and commonly collected subgenus Gnathonomia , as a single variable species. Many specimens from China are considerably larger than those from tropical sites, such as Singapore, and there is also significant allometric variation in the protuberance of the male clypeus. Further study, preferably including molecular diagnostics, is needed to assess the status of geographic forms of this species or species complex form, including populations from China and from Philippines with available names N. melior and N. stantoni respectively.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Nomia (Gnathonomia) wahisi Pauly, 2009, male. a: Head in frontal view; b: Body in lateral view; c: Body in dorsal view; d: Mesosoma in dorsal view; e: Metasoma in dorsal view; f: Hind leg in lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Nomia (Gnathonomia) thoracica Smith, 1875, male. a: Head in frontal view; b: Mandible in ventral view, showing the projection at ventral side; c: Body in lateral view; d: Propodeum in dorsal view; e: Metasoma in dorsal view f: Hind femur and tibia, showing the characters of femur and apical margin of tibia. Scale bars: 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Nomia (Gnathonomia) thoracica Smith, 1875, male. a: Genitalia in ventral view; b: Genitalia in lateral view; c: S5 in ventral view; d: S6 in ventral view; e: S7 in ventral view; f: S8 in ventral view. Scale bars: 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 9. Nomia (Gnathonomia) thoracica Smith, 1875, female. a: Head in frontal view; b: Body in dorsal view; c: Propodeum in dorsal view; d: Fore leg; e: Hind tibia, showing the basitibial plate; f: Metasoma in dorsal view. Scale bars: 1 mm.