Paratrigona scapisetosa, Gonzalez, Victor H. & Griswold, Terry L., 2011

Gonzalez, Victor H. & Griswold, Terry L., 2011, Two new species of Paratrigona and the male of Paratrigona ornaticeps (Hymenoptera, Apidae), ZooKeys 120, pp. 9-25 : 11-13

Paratrigona scapisetosa sp. n. Figs 1-4

Holotype.

♀, Ecuador: Mor. [Morona] Santiago, Miazal, 50 km. SE Macas, 1-4/7-1-1993, 300 m., M & J. Wasbauer Coll. (BBSL).

Diagnosis.

This species belongs to the haeckeli-lineatifrons species group sensu Camargo and Moure (1994) recognized by the anterior margin of scutum rounded and the presence of maculations on frons, gena, mese- and metepisternum. It is most similar to Paratrigona haeckeli (Friese) sharing the maculations on face, thick antennal scape (1.4-1.5 times width of third flagellomere), and body predominantly ferruginous. It can be easily distinguished from that species and any other species of the genus by the distinctive shape and pubescence of the antennal scape. In Paratrigona scapisetosa the scape is distinctly convex on its outer margin, abruptly narrowed on basal one-fourth, and bears long (0.5 times width of third flagellomere), stiff, erect, simple hairs along its inner margin (Fig. 4). In Paratrigona haeckeli the scape is gently convex on its inner margin, straight or nearly so on its outer margin, and lacks long hairs (Fig. 5). Also, Paratrigona scapisetosa differs from Paratrigona haeckeli in the preoccipital margin laterally with few stiff, erect simple hairs as those on scape, and the propodeum yellow laterally (Fig. 1).

Description.

Worker: Total body length 4.3 mm; head width 1.7 mm; forewing length 3.5 mm. Head slightly wider than long; inner orbits of compound eyes converging below (Fig. 3); malar area subequal to width of third flagellomere; clypeus about twice as broad as long; interalveolar distance equal to median ocellar diameter, shorter (0.8x) than alveolar diameter; alveolocular distance 1.7 times alveolar diameter, 2.1 times interalveolar distance; interocellar distance about two times median ocellar diameter, 1.2 times longer than ocellocular distance; ocelloccipital distance about 1.3 times median ocellar diameter; scape 3.3 times longer than wide, 1.5 times broader than width of third flagellomere, distinctly convex on outer margin, abruptly narrowed on basal one-fourth; pedicel about as long as broad, slightly shorter than first flagellomere; flagellomeres slightly broader than long, except apical flagellomere much longer than broad (Fig. 4); compound eye 2.7 times longer than broad; gena 0.7 times narrower than compound eye in profile. Scutum with anterior margin rounded, 1.2 times broader than long, about twice as long as scutellum; scutellum 1.4 times broader than long, narrowly rounded on distal margin (long-paraboloid sensu Camargo and Moure 1994); hind tibia 2.6 times longer than broad; hind basitarsus about twice as long as broad, strongly projecting on posterodistal margin.

Integument in general finely and densely punctate, dull, as in other species of the genus; propodeum without impunctate midline.

Color predominantly ferruginous, except: black on upper two-thirds of frons, apex of scape, pedicel, flagellum; dark reddish brown on subantennal area, epistomal sulcus, malar area, mandible distally (darker on teeth), mesepisternum ventrally, hind tibia distally, outer surfaces of middle and hind basitarsi; yellow maculations as follows: mandible basally, labrum, scape, face (Fig. 3), gena and vertex with complete, thin band (at most as wide as median ocellar diameter), pronotum, pronotal lobe, anterior one-third of tegula, costal sclerite, mesepisternum laterally, metepisternum entirely, propodeum laterally, scutum laterally with broad band (as wide as median ocellar diameter), axilla, lateral and distal margins of scutellum with narrower band than on scutum, apices of middle and hind femora, outer surfaces of fore and middle tibiae with narrow band, hind tibia with band on posterior margin, fore and middle basitarsi basally. Wing membrane subhyaline with weak greenish and coppery reflections; veins and stigma dark brown (Figs 1, 2).

Body sparsely covered with minute, appressed, simple yellowish to whitish hairs except as follows: inferior margin of mandible, labrum, and hypostomal area with long (about as long as median ocellar diameter), erect hairs; scape with stiff, erect, simple hairs (0.5 times width of third flagellomere) along inner margin (Fig. 4); gena laterally with few stiff, erect hairs as those on scape; mesepisternum ventrally, middle and hind coxae, sterna with much longer, erect simple hairs (about twice as long as median ocellar diameter); sides of propodeum with dense, branched, semierect hairs (0.5 times median ocellar diameter) partially obscuring integument.

Male: Unknown.

Queen: Unknown.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a combination of the Latin words “scāpus” and “saetae”, in reference to the distinctly long hairs along the inner margin of the antennal scape.

Comments.

An additional female specimen of Paratrigona scapisetosa from Sierra de Chiribiquete in Colombia (Department of Caquetá) has been examined by one of us (VHG) but it was not available for study. The propodeum laterally with yellow maculations of Paratrigona scapisetosa is a character only shared with Paratrigona ornaticeps .