Colletes Latreille, 1802

Note: Synonimc list modified from Michener (2007):

Colletes Latreille, 1802 . Type species: Apis succincta Linnaeus, 1758 .

Evodia Panzer, 1806 . Type species: Apis calendarum Panzer, 1806 (junior synonym of Apis succincta Linnaeus, 1758).

Monia Westwood, 1875 (junior homonym of Monia Gray, 1850). Type species: Monia grisea Westwood, 1875 .

Monidia Cockerell, 1905 (new name for Monia Westwood (not Gray)).

Colletes (Ptilopoda) Friese, 1921 . Type species: Colletes maculipennis Friese, 1921 (junior synonym of Colletes spiloptera Cockerell, 1917b).

Colletes (Puncticolletes) Noskiewicz, 1936 . Type species not designated thus not valid.

Rhynchocolletes Moure, 1943 . Type species: Rhynchocolletes albicinctus Moure, 1943 .

Diagnosis: Both sexes of the genus can be fairly easily diagnosed due to the characteristic sigmoidal shape of the vein 2m-cu (also referred to as the second recurrent vein) of the forewing with the posterior part arcuate outwardly, and anterior part slightly curved inwardly (Fig. 1A). In some species of Rhynchocolletes Moure, 1943 (sensu Moure et al., 2007, 2012)—the only other genus of Colletinae with representatives in eastern South America—the posterior part of the 2m-cu vein may be slightly arcuate, however, its anterior part is always straight and thus the vein is never sigmoidal (Fig. 1B). Hemicotelles Toro & Cabezas, 1977 and Xanthocotelles Toro & Cabezas, 1978 are both endemic to Chile and western Argentina (Michener 2007; Moure et al. 2007; Ascher & Pickering 2018) and therefore cannot be confused with the Colletes species found in eastern South America. In Colletes, the horizontal surface of the metapostnotum is divided into a series of pits by longitudinal carinae, and is separated from the vertical surface by a transverse carina that may be complete or interrupted medially (Fig. 1C). In Rhynchocolletes, the longitudinal carinae and transverse carina are absent, and the horizontal and vertical surfaces of metapostnotum are separated from each other only by a change in slope (Fig. 1D).