Flavomeliturgula schwarziana, Patiny, Sèbastien, 2004

Patiny, Sèbastien, 2004, Two new panurgine bee (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) species from the Near­ and Middle East, Zootaxa 715, pp. 1-7 : 4-6

Flavomeliturgula schwarziana sp.nov.

Type material. — HOLOTYPE 1 male and 2 PARATYPES (collection M.SCHWARZ)

Locus typicus and original labelling. Turbat. HOLOTYPE: Pakistan 8.­19.4. W, Balochistan Turbat 1993 lgt. S.Becvar. PARATYPE: Pakistan 8.­19.4. W, Balochistan Turbat 1993 lgt. S.Becvar; 2 females.

Etymology. — The species is dedicated to Maximilian Schwarz in whose collection the type specimens were found and are preserved.

Diagnosis. — Small species (L = 5mm). In males, cuticle dark, except the face medially ( Fig. 2 ), the antennae, the femoral apices and the tarsi, entirely or partly yellow. Cuticle smooth and shiny, finely and regularly punctate. Pilosity whitish, short, very sparse.

Females: Head. Face entirely black; ventral parts of the face sides and clypeus apex reddish. Clypeus slightly elongate, smooth and shiny; punctation weaker medially. Labrum reddish; labral lamella weakly differentiated. Mandibles dark, reddish at their base. Galeae nearly as long as ae of the glossa length. Glossa longer than face (Lface/ Lglossa=5.5/9). Three proximal labial palpal segments elongate; the 3rd a bit longer than the 4th. Maxillary palpi strongly reduced, although all the segments well differentiated. Genae finely and weakly punctate and sculptured (mainly on their posterior part); the cuticle lightly shiny. Frons and vertex finely and regularly punctate. Foveae faciales long and regularly elliptical, weakly depressed. Scapes black; flagellum segments dark, ventrally orangish­yellow from A6­7 to apex. Facial pilosity short and whitish, nearly absent. Mesosoma. Cuticle black, except the postscutellum and the pronotal dorsal lobes. Pronotum finely and uniformly sculptured, weakly shiny; the pronotal dorsal lobes whitish­yellow. Mesonotum and scutellum finely and regularly punctate; between punctures, the cuticle shiny. Postscutellum whitish­yellow. Wings clear; veins dark. Metasoma. Terga and sterna black or dark brown; finely and densely punctate and sculptured, matte. Pilosity brownish­blonde, restricted to the venter of face and the anal fringe.

Males: Head ( Fig. 2 ). Clypeus lightly protruding; mainly yellow, the lateral parts black. Clypeus cuticle smooth and shiny, finely and weakly punctate. Labrum reddish, labral lamella not differentiated. Mandibular base reddish­yellow, the ventral and distal parts black. Mouthparts as in females. Genae black; the face posteriorly angular. Genae, fronts and vertex black, smooth, shiny, very lightly sculptured and weakly punctate. Face laterally and supraclypeal area yellow. Eyes strongly enlarged. Scapes anteriorly yellow. Flagellum yellow beyond A2. Facial pilosity, short, whitish, sparse, mainly restricted to the clypeus laterally and labrum. Mesosoma. Mesosoma entirely black, except the pronotal dorsal lobes and the femur­tibia articulations. Cuticle smooth and shiny. Pilosity whitish and short, forming some small patches on the mesosoma. Wings clear; veins dark; stigma transparent. 2sd submarginal cell subtriangular; anterior margin narrow. Legs black, except the femur­tibia articulations and the tarsus. Tb3 (metathoracic tibiae) apex yellow. Leg pilosity white. Metasoma. Cuticle dark blackish­brown. Terga finely but regularly punctate. Pilosity nearly absent, short and whitish, restricted to the tergal margins; mainly on the last terga. Sterna brownish, more densely and uniformly sculptured, less shiny than terga. Sternal pilosity longer and more abundant than on terga. S5­6 with notable brownish­blonde hair fringes. S8 cradle like, the apex with short brownish­blonde pilosity. Genital structures. Genitalia small. Gonocoxites short, nearly as long as the penis valves. Penis valves dorso­ventrally compressed; the apex acute. Gonostyli short, nearly half as long as the penis valves.

Discussion. — Flavomeliturgula schwarziana sp.nov. possesses numerous interesting characteristics in comparison with the other species in the genus. Among the known species, F.centaurea ( Warncke, 1985) and F.lacrymosa (Popov, 1967) are well characterized by a yellow and black (wasp­like) coloration, close to that of Camptopoeum Spinola, 1843 . The larger species F. deserta ( Warncke, 1985) and F. tapana ( Warncke, 1985) show a strong extension of the cuticle yellow coloration and nearly complete absence of the black marks. In contrast, the recently described species, F. berangeriae Patiny, 2002 and particularly F.schwarziana , show a strong reduction of the yellow markings. F.schwarziana is nearly entirely black. The F.schwarziana body length (the smallest in the genus) is also interesting. Only one other species displays such a reduced size, F. berangeriae .

From the biogeographic point of view, two characteristics of the Flavomeliturgula range must be underlined. Interestingly, the whole genus is distributed in South Iran, along the Zagros Mounts chain and Eastward in Baluchistan. The known data for F. schwarziana are also located in this area. Finally, now only three Flavomeliturgula species are known to be present in Pakistan, F. berangeriae and F. centaurea ; F. schwarziana is the third.

Figures

FIGURE 2: Flavomeliturgula schwarziana face (left half; dotted lines are the yellow coloration limits). Scale = 0.17 mm