Thygatina, Cockerell, 1911

ENGEL, MICHAEL S & BAKER, DONALD B, 2006, A New Species of Tetralonia (Thygatina) from India, with Notes on the Oriental Fauna (Hymenoptera: Apidae), American Museum Novitates 3527 (1), pp. 1-12 : 1-2

Thygatina is a small group of eucerine bees confined to peninsular India and Africa south of the Sahara and presently considered a subgenus of Tetralonia ( Michener, 2000) . Like other Tetralonia (i.e., Eucara and Tetralonia proper), species of Thygatina are small to medium-sized bees with relatively short antennae in the males and in the females sparse

1 Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History; Division of Entomology (Paleoentomology), Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Dyche Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7163 ([e-mail]).

2 Deceased 10 May 2004: Prior to his untimely passing, Dr. Baker had recognized as new the species described herein and prepared line illustrations, without having the opportunity to review the description prepared by the senior author. Thus, the description and text represents the efforts of the senior author, with whom Dr. Baker had been collaborating at the time of his death. Owing to his significant intellectual contribution as well as his preparation of the drawings, Dr. Baker is retained as co-author.

scopae, adapted to carrying large pollen grains. Eucara is found only in Africa, with seven species extending as far north as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, while Tetralonia proper is principally palearctic, with one widely distributed, polytypic species [ Tetralonia (Tetralonia) malvae (Rossi) : southern and central Europe, Levant, east to Iran and Central Asia] and a second in northeastern Africa [ T. (T.) gossypii Cockerell ]. The three groups are generally quite similar; indeed, the distinctions between Eucara and Thygatina are relatively minor, particularly given that the new species discussed herein is rather Eucara - like in character (vide infra). Known pollen sources for the genus include Malvaceae for Tetralonia s. str. (genera Gossypium , Lavatera , Malva ) and Eucara (genus Gossypium ), as well as Convolvulaceae (genera Ipomoea , Argyreia ) and Malvaceae (genus Hibiscus ) for Thygatina . Species of the genus have a sparse and distinctive metatibial scopa, presumably adapted for the collection of the large pollen grains typical for these plants.

The African species of Thygatina were treated by Eardley (1989: as Tetralonia ), leaving only the Indian taxa unstudied. We herein provide a brief taxonomic summary of the known species of Thygatina (table 1), with a particular emphasis on the Indian fauna, and highlight where further collecting and work needs to be undertaken. The Indian species Tetralonia wickwari Cockerell was mistakenly referred to Eucara ( Brooks, 1988) but is herein returned to Thygatina . Morphological terminology follows that of Michener (2000) and Engel (2001), while the format for the description generally follows that of Eardley (1989) for African Thygatina . Photomicrographs were prepared with a Microptics PhotoImaging System.