Halictus villosulus (Kirby)

Weissmann, Julie A., Picanco, Ana, Borges, Paulo A. V. & Schaefer, Hanno, 2017, Bees of the Azores: an annotated checklist (Apidae, Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 642, pp. 63-95 : 79-80

Halictus villosulus (Kirby)

Halictus villosulus (Kirby), ( Lasioglossum villosulum )

Description.

Medium-sized bee (total length 6-9 mm in females and 6-8 mm in males, wing length 4.5-5.5 mm in females and 4-4.5 mm in males,); scutum with unusually large punctures, top of propodeum roundish; head and thorax hairy; abdomen shiny black (Fig. 8 g–h).

Distinguishing features.

Medium-sized Halictus (similar in size to Halictus smeathmanellus but not metallic green); head densely white villous, thorax and abdomen blackish dark with scattered long white hairs.

General distribution.

Madeira, Canaries; North Africa; Eurasia, from Portugal to Nepal and Malaysia in the East and Finland in the North.

Distribution in the Azores.

All islands.

First record.

1930 (first mentioned by Benoist et al. 1936).

Nesting.

In various substrates on sparsely vegetated slopes, cliffs or flat areas (in the latter, the entrance often with small tumuli); often in large aggregations.

Social behaviour.

Solitary.

Foraging.

Polylectic, observed on Asteraceae ( Helminthotheca echioides , Hypochaeris radicata , Leontodon taraxacoides , Sonchus asper ) and Frankeniaceae ( Frankenia laevis ).

Phenology.

June-September; Halictus villosulus is known to be bivoltine (two generations per year) elsewhere but no detailed observational data is available from the Azores.

Material.

São Miguel (Furnas) and Terceira (Monte Brasil), August-September 1930, leg. L. Chopard, det. Blüthgen ( Benoist et al. 1936, not seen). São Miguel (Ponta Delgada), July 1992, leg. Wirtz, det. Warncke ( Wirtz 1994, not seen). São Miguel (Ponte), July 1986, 3 females; Faial (Horta), July 1986, 5 females, 5 males; Pico (Magdalena), July 1986, 1 male, all det. Ebmer, coll. Museum Leiden (Ebmer, pers. comm.). São Miguel (S. João), 09.08.1984, 1 female, 1 male; São Miguel (Ponta Delgada), 12.08.1984, 1 female; São Miguel (Vila Franca), 07.08.1984, 1 male; São Miguel (Remedios), 10.08.1984, 1 male, all leg. La Roche, det. Ebmer (Ebmer, pers. comm.). Santa Maria (Vila do Porto), July 1972, 2 females, det. Ebmer, coll. Senckenberg Frankfurt (Ebmer, pers. comm.). Corvo (lighthouse), 5 females, 1 male; Flores (Ponta da Faja), 05.08.2014, 3 females; Graciosa, June 2012, 6 females; Terceira (airport), 1 male; Terceira, 08.08.2014, 1 female, all leg. H. Schaefer, coll. TUM (specimens B33-B35, B37-B43, B51, B57-B62).

The COI sequence of specimens H. Schaefer B33, B38, B51, B60-B62 (TUM), acc. no. KX824765-70, are (near) identical to a Halictus morio sequence from France in GenBank (JF903563), but they differ in at least 15 positions from the remaining Halictus morio sequences in GenBank (see Fig. 2).