Trichocolletes latifrons (Cockerell)

Batley, Michael, 2012, Revision of the Australian Bee Genus Trichocolletes Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Colletidae: Paracolletini), Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 64 (1), pp. 1-50 : 24-25

Trichocolletes latifrons (Cockerell)

Figs 34, 63, 100

Paracolletes latifrons Cockerell, 1914b, p. 41 .

Trichocolletes (Trichocolletes) latifrons .— Michener, 1965, p. 80.

Specimens examined. The holotype ♀, Coolangatta, Queensland, BMNH (Hym 17.a.486) and the following. New South Wales: ♂, Wooloweyah (29.5172°S 153.3678°E), 28 Aug. 2007, M. Batley, ex Gompholobium virgatum, AM (K.316502); 3♀, Yamba, 29 Aug. 1992, N. W. Rodd, AM (K.316697–99) . Queensland: ♂, 5♀, Burleigh, 25 Sep. 1958 and 3–15 Sep. 1965, A. N. Burns, MV (16550–55) ; ♀, Coolangatta, 11 Sep. 1913, QM ( HY/2393 ) .

Diagnosis

Length 12–13 mm; eyes not hairy; metasomal bands indistinct; clypeus short. Male clypeal hair relatively short, stiffly erect; mid basitarsus unmodified; ventral surface of hind femur with hair. Female tarsal claws with inner rami; T2–4 with white hair.

Descriptions

Male (AM K.316502), not previously described.— Head width 4.0 mm, body length 12.0 mm. Relative dimensions: HW 50, HL 36, UID 29, UFW 30, LID 32, DMA 30, HVO 3, WOC 12, MOD 4, OOD 9, IAD 9, ASD 4, AOD 7, ML 20, BMW 6, MSL 3, SL 12, SW 5, FL c. 55.— Eyes not hairy; face broad, inner orbits strongly divergent ventrally; length malar space c. 0.6× basal width mandible; clypeus short (length 0.35× width); scape mildly swollen (width 0.42× length); flagellum long, middle flagellomeres c. 1.7×

as long as wide. Legs slender; distitarsi moderately broad; mid basitarsus short, broad, 2.9× as long as wide; hind tarsus 1.30× as long as hind tibia; hind basitarsus 5.6× as long as wide; posterior carina of basitibial area almost reaching apex. Gonoforceps broad apically with sparse hair (Fig. 34); S7 with very wide rectangular lateral lobes and small posterior projections ( Fig. 63 ).— Labrum and ventral rim of clypeus, scape, mandible medially, tibiae, tarsi and distal ends of femora, orange-brown, with darker suffusions on posterior faces of femora, fore and mid basitarsi; flagellum ventrally, dark brown (with some orange-brown suffusions). T2–5 with indistinct golden brown bands, sterna black.— Scutum dull with weak pit-reticulation.— Face with dense, plumose, bright orange hair, stiffly erect on clypeus and supraclypeal area, longer and dorsally directed on frons, basal margin of clypeus bare. Scutum closely covered with long, finely-branched, orange hair; fore basitarsus with weak plume; mid and hind trochanters with dense plumes of white hair; hind basitarsus with fringe of sparse, sinuous, white hair on anterior margin. T1,2 with sparse cover of long, finely-branched, golden hair; T3–6 with relatively long, semi-adpressed hair matching underlying integument, but with golden reflections.

Female (AM K.316697).— Head width 4.35 mm, body length 12.9 mm. Relative dimensions: HW 50, HL 36, UID 27, UFW 31, LID 32, DMA 32, HVO 3, WOC 7, MOD 4, OOD 8, IAD 8, ASD 3, AOD 9, ML 21, BMW 8, MSL 1.5, SL 15, SW 3, FL c. 33.— Face longer than wide; inner orbits ventrally divergent; length malar space c. 0.3× basal width mandible; clypeus transversely convex, with short, shallow sagittal concavity basally; frontal carina strong ending as small tubercle on supraclypeal area; middle flagellomeres c. as long as wide; inner hind tibial spur with c. 12 strong teeth; tarsal claws with strong inner rami; pygidial plate entire with upturned margin and moderately strong medial elevation.— Labrum, ventral margin clypeus dark redbrown; mandible medially deep amber. T1,2 with apical margins brownish; legs dark brown.— Clypeus weakly reticulate, densely punctate except apically; scutum weakly reticulate, punctures open to close; T1–4 with change of texture on apical margins.— Clypeus and supraclypeal area with open, long, finely-branched, white hair, close in apicolateral corners of clypeus and paraocular areas; frons with close, long, plumose, white hair; vertex with dark brown, plumose hair.— Scutum openly covered with short, plumose hair, white across anterior margin, dark brown elsewhere; metanotum closely covered with longer, plumose, white hair. T1 sparsely covered with finelybranched, white hair; T2–4 with short, adpressed, white hair forming apical fringes, complete on T4, interrupted medially on T3 and restricted to lateral margins of T2; prepygidial fimbra mid brown.

Remarks. Although there was no coincident collection, two separate locations yielded both sexes on different days but at similar times of the year. Their distinctive morphology makes it unlikely that they belong to different species.

Similar to T. burnsi from which male may be distinguished by clypeal hair, unmodified mid basitarsus and hair beneath hind femur. Female may be distinguished from T. burnsi by inner rami on tarsal claws and white hair on T2–4.

Distribution. Coastal areas of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales (NNC, SEQ) ( Fig. 100 ).

Figures

Figs 56–67. Seventh sternum of Trichocolletes males.

Figs 92–103. Known distribution of Trichocolletes species.