Xylocopa (Dasyxylocopa) piligera Maidl, 1912

Melo, Gabriel A. R., 2017, Revision of the carpenter bee subgenus Xylocopa (Dasyxylocopa) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 51 (7 - 8), pp. 379-390 : 388-390

Xylocopa (Dasyxylocopa) piligera Maidl, 1912 new status

( Figures 2b , 3e, f , 5 , 6 )

Xylocopa piligera Maidl, 1912: 327 . Lectotype male, presently designated, Brazil (NHW; examined).

Xylocopa leucopus Friese, 1925: 16 . Lectotype male, presently designated, Brazil: Minas Gerais, Passa Quatro (ZMB; examined).

Comments

Although Friese’ s X. leucopus was placed under the synonymy of X. bimaculata by Hurd and Moure (1963), they considered the possibility that it could be ‘subspecifically distinct’. Later, in his catalog of the New World Xylocopa, Hurd (1978) included Maidl’ s X. piligera as an additional synonym of X. bimaculata . After study of the type material of the two taxa, it was found that they correspond to the same species occurring in the mountains at the borders between the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Structurally, X. piligera is most similar to X. bimaculata , as shown in the identification key above. They differ mostly by details of colour and density of pilosity.

Type material examined

Xylocopa piligera was proposed based on a series of six males from Brazil and housed in the NHW collection . The specimen with the labels ‘ Beske \ Brasilien’ ‘piligera\ Maidl ♂ \det . Fr . Maidl \ Type’ ‘ Lectotype \piligera\ Det . J . S . Moure 1958’ ‘NHMW’ is here designated as lectotype . Among the remaining specimens, four paralectotypes bear the labels ‘Beske\ Brasilien’ ‘piligera\ Maidl ♂ \det . Fr . Maidl \ Type’ and the fifth one only ‘piligera\ Maidl ♂ \det . Fr . Maidl \ Type’ . Friese’ s Xylocopa leucopus was described from an unknown number of males and females. A male in the ZMB collection with the labels ‘ Brasil \ Campinas \1921\ Passa Q. ’ (in which ‘21\ Passa Q. ’ has been handwritten on an original printed label ‘ Brasil \ Campinas \1903 \ Hempel’) ‘ Xylocopa \leucopus\1909 Friese det.\ ♂ n. Friese’ ‘ Type’ ‘ Coll .\ Friese’ ‘LIEFT .’ ‘ LECTOTYPE \ Xylocopa \leucopus\Friese\ ♂ P. D. Hurd ‘64’ ‘ Xylocopa \bimaculata\ Friese \ ♂ P . D. Hurd ‘64’ is here designated as lectotype . The SDEI collection possesses a male paralectotype bearing the labels ‘ Brasil \ Campinas \1921\ Passa Q. ’ (in which ‘21\ Passa Q. ’ has been handwritten on an original printed label ‘ Brasil \ Campinas \1903\ Hempel’) ‘ Xylocopa \leucopus\1909 Friese det.\ ♂ n. Friese’ ‘ Coll . Friese’ ‘ Paralecto \Typus\ Hurd ‘64 ’. There are two additional specimens, one female and one male, from the ZMB collection on loan that might constitute additional paralectotypes .

Additional material examined

Brazil, Minas Gerais: one male ( ZMB), ‘ Brasil \ Passa Quatro \1823 [sic]\ Zikan’ (in which ‘ Passa Quatro \23\ Zikan’ has been handwritten on an original printed label ‘ Brasil \ S. Leopoldo \1897\ Dutra’) ‘ Xylocopa \leucopus\ Fr .\1909 Friese det.\ ♂ ’ ‘Coll.\ Friese’ ; one male ( DZUP), ‘DZUP\028414’ ‘ Brasil, MG, 16 km a SE\ de Itamonte, Pq . Nac .\ Itatiaia , 2200 m,\ 22.359°S 44.733°W,\ 25 .x .2011, D. Luz’ . Rio de Janeiro: one male ( ZMB), ‘ Brasil \ Rio de Janeiro \1897\ Peckolt’ ‘ Xylocopa \albitarsis\1904 Friese det .\ ♂ Fr.’ ‘ Type’ ‘MS – Name’ ‘bimaculata\ Fr .\ Hurd’ ; one male ( DZUP), ‘ Parque Nacional \ das Serra dos Órgaos \ Entre abrigos 2 e 3 .\ Terezopolis – E . Rio .\17.XI.949. Aristo-\teles Silva’ ‘ Xylocopa \bimaculata\ Friese’ . São Paulo: three females ( DZUP), ‘ Brasil, SP, 10 km a SW\de S . J. Barreiro, Serra \ da Bocaina, 1560 m,\ 22.721°S 44.625°W,\ 23 .x .2011, G. Melo \ Em ninho’; one male ( DZUP), ‘ Sa . BOCAINA- 1500 m \S.J. BARREIRO – SP\BRASIL 4-XI-1965 \F.M. Oliveira leg’; one male ( DZUP), ‘CAMPOS DO JORDÃO\S . Paulo BRASIL\ Fev . – 1958\K . Lenko leg .’ ‘ Xylocopa ♂ \bimaculata\Friese\Pe J. S. Moure 1990 ’.

Biology

A single nest of X. piligera was found in a wood post of a fence ( Figure 6 ) in the Serra da Bocaina, in São Paulo. The nest was not opened and therefore its internal structure has not been examined. The use of large pieces of dead wood for nesting purposes is a widespread behaviour in the genus Xylocopa . The only previous information on the nesting habits of the subgenus X. (Dasyxylocopa) is a report by Silveira et al. (2002) of use of dead stems of Vellozia (Velloziaceae) for nest construction by what was assumed to be X. bimaculata , but most likely corresponds to X. fortuita sp. nov.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Frank Koch and Michael Ohl for their kind help and support during my stay at the Museum für Naturkunde, in Berlin, and Dominique Zimmermann and Manuela Vizek, for their assistance during a short visit to the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien.

Figures

Figure 2. Dorsal view of male mesosoma, with pubescence removed from left side. (a) Xylocopa bimaculata Friese, 1903, specimen from Curitiba, Paraná; (b) Xylocopa piligera Maidl, 1912, specimen from Campos do Jordão, São Paulo.

Figure 3. Dorsal view of the female metasoma, with apex of metasoma shown to the left (a, c e) and detail of the terga 1–3 to the right (b, d, f) (midline of sclerite to the right in b, d, f). (a, b) Xylocopa bimaculata Friese, 1903, holotype; (c, d) Xylocopa fortuita sp. nov., holotype (shorter lateral pubescence compared to that of other two specimens is an artefact due to the condition in which the specimen was obtained; see text for details); (e, f) Xylocopa piligera Maidl, 1912, specimen from Serra da Bocaina, São José do Barreiro, São Paulo.

Figure 5. Xylocopa piligera Maidl, 1912, lectotype male. (a) Head, frontal view; (b) head and mesosoma, dorsal view; (c) apex of metasoma, dorsal view; (d) specimen labels; (e) metasoma, dorsal view.

Figure 6. Nesting site of Xylocopa piligera Maidl, 1912, in Serra da Bocaina, São José do Barreiro, São Paulo. (a) Wood post of a fence in which a nest was located; (b) nest entrance; wood chips can be seen coming out from the tunnel.