Hylaeus annularis ( Kirby 1802 )

Notton, David G. & Dathe, Holger H., 2008, William Kirby’s types of Hylaeus Fabricius (Hymenoptera, Colletidae) in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, Journal of Natural History 42 (27 - 28), pp. 1861-1865 : 1861-1862

Hylaeus annularis ( Kirby 1802)

Melitta annularis Kirby, 1802: 38 . Lectotype ♀: England, Suffolk, Barham (BMNH). Here designated.

Labels on lectotype

4♀ [Kirby’s handwritten label]; 63/39 [Blue paper disc, BMNH accession number 1863–39]; Syntype; B.M.Type/ Hym/ 17a2870a; Syntype ♀ / Melitta / annularis Kirby / det. D. Notton, 1995 [Lectotype ♀].

Redescription of lectotype

Female. Head in frontal view broader than long; clypeus without processes and not strongly convex; paraocular markings present, yellow, pointed below, and rounded above, approximately heart shaped, extending to lower margin of toruli but no higher, extending to clypeal margin, but not reaching inner orbit; facial foveae not extending above upper margin of compound eyes, slightly converging posteriorly. Dorsal surface of pronotum medially narrowed, not carinate. Dorsal surface of propodeum slightly shorter than the metanotum, and with coarse reticulation. Punctures of gastral tergites 1 and 2 coarse, dense and extensive; no microreticulation on the disc or medial posterior margin of tergite 1 or the front of tergite 2. The condition of the specimen is poor: right compound eye missing; both antennae partly lost; right fore wing missing; all legs either partly or wholy lost; gaster reglued; generally dirty.

Notes

Six specimens were found standing over the name annularis in Kirby’s collection. Of these, three specimens were labelled: ‘‘ B ’’, ‘‘ c ’’, and ‘‘ d ’’, and agree with Kirby’s descriptions of variety B of the female, and varieties c and d of the male, they are excluded from the syntype series because Kirby referred to them as distinct variants (ICZN, 1999: Art. 72.4.1). One further specimen labelled ‘‘4 „d ’’, is not considered a syntype as it does not agree with any specimen described by Kirby. This leaves a male and female specimen agreeing with Kirby’s descriptions, and which are recognised as syntypes. The female syntype does not agree with H. annularis auctt, it agrees with H. spilotus Förster, 1871 in the sculpture of gastral tergites 1 and 2 and the dorsal surface of the propodeum. A distinction between H. annularis auctt. and H. spilotus can be consistently made in English populations based on a sample of 30 females of each species examined from the BMNH collections: H. annularis auctt. has the punctures of gastral tergites 1 and 2 finer, less dense and not so extensive (they are particularly sparse on the area just in front of the centre), has microreticulation at least on the medial posterior margin of tergite 1 and front of tergite 2, and the dorsal surface of the propodeum is longer, as long or slightly longer than the metanotum and usually with sub-parallel longitudinal carina, whereas H. spilotus has the punctures of gastral tergites 1 and 2 coarser denser and more extensive, has no microreticulation on the disc or medial posterior margin of tergite 1 and front of tergite 2, and the dorsal surface of the propodeum is shorter, usually slightly shorter than the metapostnotum, and with coarse reticulations. The male syntype does not agree with H. annularis auctt. either, it agrees with the species currently known as H. hyalinatus Smith, 1842 . As the two syntypes belong to different species, a lectotype designation is needed to fix the usage of the name H. annularis . It would have been desirable to select a lectotype which supported the established usage of the H. annularis auctt. but unfortunately neither syntype corresponds to H. annularis auctt. It was therefore considered best to select the female syntype because this would avoid the disruption that might be caused by changing the name of H. hyalinatus . This also has the benefit that the renamed taxon remains within the same subgenus, Lambdopsis .Thus the name H. annularis is valid, and becomes the senior synonym of H. spilotus and all its synonyms.