Augochloropsis Cockerell, 1897

ENGEL, MICHAEL S., 2000, Classification Of The Bee Tribe Augochlorini (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (250), pp. 1-89 : 34

Genus Augochloropsis Cockerell

DIAGNOSIS: This is the most speciose genus of the tribe. Augochloropsis s.l. can be quickly identified by the presence of a notch on the inner, posterior margin of the tegula as well as the pectinate inner metatibial spur and the lamellate pronotal dorsal ridge.

DESCRIPTION: Female. Mandible with moderate to strong subapical tooth. Labral distal process quadrate; basal elevation bilobed; teeth absent. Prementum not greatly elongate. Galeal apex rounded; galeal comb absent; galeal base extending to base of stipes. Hypostomal ridge carinate; anterior angle rounded. Length of malar space less than basal mandibular width. Epistomal sulcus obtuse. Ocelli not greatly enlarged; ocellar furrow absent. Pronotal lateral angle produced, orthogonal to obtuse; dorsal ridge lamellate; lateral ridge rounded to angled. Tegula with inner posterior border notched. Anterior basitarsal brush present. Basitibial plate bordered on all sides, extremely short. Inner hind tibial spur pectinate. Apex of marginal cell truncate. Distal hamuli with irregular spacing pattern. Male. Mandible simple. Labrum without distal process; basal area not notched. Antennae extending back to scutellum; F2 approximately equal in length to F1. Inner hind tibial spur serrate. Metasoma oval. Apical margin of S4 produced laterally, with setae at apices of projections, also produced medially. Apical margin of S6 emarginate. Apical margin of S7 and S8 with median process, that of S8 usually bilobed; spiculum broad. Proctiger unmodified. Gonobasal bridge narrow, or completely membranous; dorsal lobes strong. Basal process of gonostylus and parapenial lobe absent; ventral process with long, thin process. Ventral surface of penis valve with keel. Volsella with inner apical angle produced into thin projection.

REVISIONS: There is no revision of any Augochloropsis subgenus, and many species are not placed to subgenus. Excluding the four species placed in the subgenus Glyptochlora (although one placed there only provisionally), there are 134 species listed by Moure and Hurd (1987) as belonging to Augochloropsis and Paraugochloropsis . Since the time of their catalog two species of Paraugochloropsis have been synonymized (Engel, 1996c) and a third has been newly transferred to the genus bringing the total specific diversity of the genus to 133.

BIOLOGY: The nesting biology of species in this genus have been studied by several authors (Gimenes et al., 1991; Michener and Lange, 1959; Michener and Seabra, 1959; Sakagami and Moure, 1967; Smith, 1901). All are soil nesters and are presumably communal. The peculiar quadrate pollen masses serve as an ethological synapomorphy for the genus.

DISTRIBUTION: The genus ranges from Argentina to southern Canada, although the three species occurring in the United States and Canada belong to the subgenus Paraugochloropsis . Species are known from the island of Trinidad, but do not occur in the West Indies.