Apis henshawi Cockerell

ENGEL, MICHAEL S., 2006, A Giant Honey Bee from the Middle Miocene of Japan (Hymenoptera: Apidae), American Museum Novitates 3504 (1), pp. 1-12 : 10

† Apis henshawi Cockerell

Apis (Synapis) henshawi Cockerell, 1907: 229 . Apis dormitans Cockerell, 1907: 228 . Nomen praeoccupatum (nec Heyden, 1862).

Apis oligocenica Meunier, 1915: 210 .

Synapis dormitans (Cockerell) ; Statz, 1931: 45. Synapis henshawi (Cockerell) ; Statz, 1931: 45. Synapis kaschkei Statz, 1931: 50 .

Apis cuenoti Théobald, 1937: 401 .

Apis oligocaenica Goetze, 1964: 9 . Lapsus calami .

Apis henschawi Goetze, 1964: 9 . Lapsus calami .

Apis kaschki Goetze, 1964: 9 . Lapsus calami .

Apis henshawi dormiens Zeuner and Manning, 1976: 241 . Nomen novum pro Apis dormitans Cockerell, 1907 .

Apis henshawi kaschkei (Statz) ; Zeuner and Manning, 1976: 243.

Apis aquisextana Nel, Martínez­Delclòs, Arillo, and Peñalver In Arillo et al., 1996: 60 .

Apis aquisextusensis Nel, Martínez­Delclòs, Arillo, and Peñalver, 1999: 253 . New synonymy.

COMMENTS: The name aquisextusensis was unnecessarily proposed in 1999 (Nel et al., 1999) for a species proposed three years earlier by the same authors and based on the same material (Arillo et al., 1996). The specimens upon which the species A. aquisextusensis was based were first mentioned by Arillo et al. (1996), and at that time referred to as A. aquisextana . Since Arillo et al. (1996) provided a type designation and diagnosis for A. aquisextana the name became validated in that article (ICZN, 1999). Later, in a treatment of fossil honey bees, this species was recognized as a junior synonym of the more widely distributed Oligo–Miocene species A. henshawi (Engel, 1998) . Confusingly, while reviewing fossil honey bees from Europe, the same authors who proposed A. aquisextana proposed a second name for specimens of the same type series (Nel et al., 1999). In their second contribution, however, these authors designated a different specimen as the holotype and employed the name A. aquisextusensis (Nel et al., 1999) . Since a name had already been proposed based on the same material, A. aquisextusensis immediately became a junior synonym of A. aquisextana (and thereby indirectly of A. henshawi ). Owing to this confusion, I herein provide a revised taxonomic summary for A. henshawi and officially propose the required synonymy of A. aquisextusensis .