Megachile (Eutricharaea)

Praz, Christophe, Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the subgenus Eutricharaea Thomson in Egypt, with a key to the species and the description of two new species (Hymenoptera, Anthophila Megachilidae, genus Megachile Latreille), Zootaxa 5032 (3), pp. 301-330 : 323

Megachile (Eutricharaea) sp. 1

Figs 49, 50 .

Male: Body length 12 mm. Genitalia typical of the rotundata -group. Integument dark brown, except femora of all legs (orange), tibia 2 and tarsi of mid and hind legs (brown-orange) ( Fig. 49 ); in addition, front legs modified as in M. laniventris sp. nov., with tibia orange, front tarsi yellowish-white, second tarsal segment with dark maculation on ventral side; front coxal spine as in M. laniventris sp. nov. In contrast to M. laniventris sp. nov., sterna 2–3 without particularly long hairs. Last antennal segment only very slightly enlarged. Ocelloccipital distance nearly as long as interocellar distance ( Fig. 50 ). Punctation on vertex as in M. laniventris sp. nov., on mesonotum very fine and very dense ( Fig. 50 ), more so than in M. laniventris sp. nov.; preapical carina of T6 with 10 acute teeth. This species appears to be very similar to some Afrotropical species of Eutricharaea ; using the key of Pasteels (1965), this species would run to M. stellarum or M. krebsiana ; using the key of Eardley (2013), it would run to M. malangensis Friese 1904 . M. stellarum was synonymized with M. malangensis and M. krebsiana with M. frontalis Smith 1853 (not M. frontalis Fabricius 1804 ) by Eardley (2013), both of which were placed in Paracella Michener (=Anodonteutricharaea). The type specimens of M. malangensis and M. krebsiana were examined; these taxa belong to the subgenus Eutricharaea , not Anodonteutricharaea; M. krebsiana is probably not a synonym of M. frontalis Smith.

When submitted to the identification engine on the BOLD platform, the COI sequence obtained for Megachile sp. 1 species was highly similar (>99%) to three unpublished sequences from Ghana and South Africa; these three sequences were obtained from specimens not identified to species. This high similarity over thousands of kilometers strongly suggests that this species may be a widely distributed Afrotropical species.

Female: Unknown.

Material examined: EGYPT: Sinai, Wadi Tubug 1600 m, 23.vi.1998, A. Freidberg & F. Kaplan ( SMNH); St Katherine , Sinai, vii. 2013, O. Norfolk ( CPCN) .

Figures

FIGURES 49–55. 49. Dorsal view of male of Megachile sp. 1. 50. Dorsal view of mesosoma and head of male of Megachile sp. 1. 51. Apical margin of clypeus of male of Megachile sp. 2. 52. Ventral view of front tarsus of male of Megachile sp. 2. 53. Apical part of antenna of male of Megachile sp. 2. 43. 54. Front coxal spine of male of Megachile sp. 2. 55. Mandibles and clypeus of female of Megachile sp. 3.