Agapostemon femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) Sheffield & Vilhelmsen & Bakker, 2021

Sheffield, Cory S., Vilhelmsen, Lars & Bakker, Frederique, 2021, Taxonomy of the New World bee genus Agapostemon Guérin-Méneville - new names and synonymies (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 751 (1), pp. 1-23 : 9-15

Agapostemon femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) stat. nov.

Figs 3 , 7D , 8D , 9B , 10B

Andrena (Agapostemon) femoralis Guérin-Méneville, 1844a: 447 [♂].

Halictus cubensis Spinola, 1851: 203 [♂, not ♀] [synonymy of Ag. viridula by Engel 2004: 170].

Agapostemon semiviridis Cresson, 1865: 172 [♀] [synonymy of Ag. viridulus by Baker 1906: 274].

Agapostemon obscurata Cresson, 1869: 295 [♂, not ♀ as indicated]. syn. nov.

Agapostemon obscuratus var. abjectus Cockerell, 1917b: 436 [♂, not ♀ as indicated] [synonymy of Ag. obscuratus by Roberts 1972: 513].

Agapostemon viridualus – Janjic & Packer, 2003: 109. Lapsus calami.

Material examined

Lectotype (designated here, Fig. 3 )

CUBA • ♂; Monchicourt leg.; RMNH. INS.1283531 .

Additional material

CUBA • 1 ♀ (lectotype of Agapostemon semiviridis Cresson, 1865 , designated by Cresson 1916: 109); ANSP 2788 ( Fig. 4 ) • 1 ♂ (lectotype of Agapostemon obscurata Cresson, 1869 , designated by Cresson 1916: 108); ANSP 2790 ( Fig. 5 ) • 1 ♂ (holotype of Agapostemon obscuratus var. abjectus Cockerell, 1917 ); Cabanas [Cabañas]; 28 May [no year provided]; Palmer and Riley leg.; USNM 22938 ( Fig. 6 ).

Notes

The lectotype ♂ of Halictus cubensis Spinola, 1851 (designated by Engel 2004: 170), from Cuba, Havana, Spinola Collection, MSNT, was not examined as the synonymy was not questioned.

Remarks

The name and description of Andrena femoralis is attributed to Guérin-Méneville (1844a), though the name (i.e., Andrena femoralis Guer. ), type locality (i.e., Cuba) and first illustration appear on plate 83, figure 1 (incorrectly recorded as plate 73 by Van der Vecht 1957) for Cuvier’s (1836) work published in 1837 ( Cuvier 1837). These images were later duplicated in Guérin-Méneville (1844b) as “Insectès, Pl[ate]. 73, Figure 1 ”. Banks (1909) commented on the dates of Guérin-Méneville’s Iconographie du Regne Animali, indicating that the volume dedicated to insects (i.e., Guérin-Méneville 1844a) is dated 1829–1838 with many references to other dates within the text, including 1844, the year most researchers have used in citing this work (e.g., Roberts 1972; Michener 2000, 2007, though Moure (1960) indicated 1845). However, as Cuvier’s original plates were published in 1837 ( Cuvier 1837), Banks (1909) felt that those of the opinion “that a named figure is valid without [accompanying] text must credit such names” with the dates of the plate publication. However, Cowan (1971) more recently reviewed the issue of Guérin-Méneville’s works and concluded that the date relevant to the insects is 1844, and this decision is followed here.

Van der Vecht (1957) examined material that he assumed was part of the type material for Ag. femoralis at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden (now Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden), though he also indicated the possibility of syntypes existing at other institutions; other specimens with the same collection information exist at Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Thus, to stabilize Ag. femoralis as the valid name of this Cuban taxon, the specimen Van der Vecht (1957) provided details on (i.e., fig. 3) is hereby selected as the lectotype. Incidentally, Ag. femoralis is the type species for the genus Agapostemon ( Sandhouse 1936, 1943; Michener 1997). Dalla Torre (1896) was the first to treat Ag. femoralis as a synonym of Ag. viridulus (later followed by Friese 1902), though the assumption that the type material of Ag. viridulus was collected in Cuba was baseless.

The female type material of Halictus cubensis Spinola was not an Agapostemon , but rather Augochlora regina Smith, 1853 (Augochlorini) ( Engel 2004), so Engel (2004) designated the male as a lectotype, and placed it into synonymy with Ag. femoralis . However, as a result of this designation, Ag. cubensis Roberts became a junior secondary homonym of Ag. cubensis (Spinola) , thus requiring the replacement name provided below.

Though Roberts (1972) records the synonymy of Ag. semiviridis Cresson under Ag. viridulus as new, Baker (1906) had already treated it as a synonym. When described, Cresson (1865) indicated that it was potentially the female of Ag. viridulus .

Figures

Fig. 3. Agapostemon femoralis Guérin-Méneville, 1844, the type species for the genus Agapostemon Guérin-Méneville, 1844. Lectotype (designated here), ♂ (RMNH.INS.1283531). A. Dorsal view. B. Face. C. Lateral view. D. Associated labels. Photos by F. Bakker, Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Fig. 7. Face of females (left column) and males (right column). A–B. Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius, 1775). C. Ag. semiviridis Cresson, 1865, lectotype [= Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844)]. D. Ag. femoralis. E–F. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869; note, the apex of clypeus of female is damaged.

Fig. 8. Propodeum. A–B. Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius, 1775), ♀ (A) and ♂ (B), showing distinctive carina encircling posterior surface. C. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869, ♀ [= Ag. femoralis (Guérin- Méneville, 1844)]. D. Ag. femoralis, ♂, with weak carina that does not encircle posterior surface.

Fig. 9.Dorsal view of the metosomaof male.A. Agapostemonvirescens (Fabricius, 1775).B. Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844). C. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869 [= Ag. femoralis].

Fig. 10. Hind basitarsus of male. A. Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius, 1775), which is unmodified. B. Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844), with upper arrow showing the prominent apical groove, and the lower arrow showing the prominent basal ridge.

Fig. 4. Agapostemon semiviridis Cresson, 1865. Lectotype, ♀ (ANSP 2788). A. Lateral view. B. Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photos by J.D. Weintraub/ANSP Entomology.

Fig. 5. Agapostemon obscuratus Cresson, 1869. Lectotype, ♂ (ANSP 2790). A. Lateral view. B. Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photos by J.D. Weintraub/ANSP Entomology.

Fig. 6. Agapostemon obscuratus var. abjectus Cockerell, 1917. Holotype, ♂ (USNM 22938). A. Lateral view. B. Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photos by USNM.

Fig. 1. Andrena virescens Fabricius, 1775. Holotype, ♀ (BMNH(E) 668675). A. Lateral view. B. Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photo credit: Natural History Museum, London (2020). Data Portal Query on “Specimens” https://doi.org/10.5519/qd.7pgn1j4u. Subset of “Collection specimens” (dataset) https://doi.org/10.5519/0002965. Layout modified from original.