Centris (Xanthemisia)

Vivallo, Felipe, 2014, Revision of the species of Centris (Xanthemisia) Moure, 1945 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Centridini) from the Caribbean islands, Zootaxa 3821 (1) : -

The subgenus Centris (Xanthemisia) in the Caribbean islands

According to Pérez-Gelabert (2008), the only species of Centris (Xanthemisia) that occurs in the Caribbean islands is C. aethiops . The distribution records of this species are abundant in the literature ( Cresson, 1865, 1869, 1916; Ashmead, 1900; Friese, 1900, 1902; Cockerell, 1906; Lutz & Cockerell, 1920; Snelling, 1966; Genaro, 2007, 2008), being cited repeatedly by almost all the authors who have studied bees in this region. Other species that have been cited for these islands are Centris armillata , correctly synonymized with C. aethiops by Snelling (1966) and C. domingensis , which has had a confusing taxonomic treatment in the latest publications concerning this region ( Genaro, 2007, 2008; Pérez-Gelabert, 2008).

The study of specimens housed in some of the main entomological collections of Neotropical bees (listed in Material and Methods), along with the study of type specimens, resulted in the identification of three species of Centris (Xanthemisia) occurring in the Caribbean islands, including one previously unknown to science. The recognized species are C. aethiops , C. domingensis , the latter being removed from the synonymy of C. analis proposed by Pérez-Gelabert (2008), and C. caymanensis , a new species from the Cayman Islands, Lesser Antilles.