Megachile (Pseudomegachile) cinnamomea Alfken 1926

Dorchin, Achik & Praz, Christophe J., 2018, Taxonomic revision of the Western Palaearctic bees of the subgenus Pseudomegachile (Hymenoptera, Apiformes, Megachilidae, Megachile), Zootaxa 4524 (3), pp. 251-307 : 295

Megachile (Pseudomegachile) cinnamomea Alfken 1926

Megachile cinnamomea Alfken 1926: 125 , ♀ ♂, “Turrah” [ Egypt, likely Tora ]. Lectotype ♂, by present designation (see below), ZMHB.

Distribution: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, possibly Arabian Peninsula, possibly Turkey and Armenia (see below).

Note: 1. The populations from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, referred to here as Megachile sp. aff. cinnamomea , are morphologically divergent. Most evidently, the clypeus is more densely punctate and covered by branched hairs in the female sex. Our phylogenetic results ( Fig. 1 ) also indicate that these populations may eventually be treated as a new species. We refrain from doing so here because of the particularly high morphological variability observed within M. cinnamomea , and because of the small numbers of specimens available from the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, specimens from Yemen appear intermediate between these eastern Arabian populations and northern African populations of M. cinnamomea .

2. Some of the species described by Walker (1871), in particular Megachile adusta Walker 1871 from “Akeek” [likely Agig, Sudan], may refer to this species; since existing syntypes could not be located (BMNH) we recommend treating M. adusta as a nomen oblitum if it can be demonstrated that M. cinnamomea occurs in the Agig region.

3. Vestiture colour presents geographical variation in M. cinnamomea ; in Northern Africa, the metasomal vestiture is fulvous, while in some southern Moroccan populations and in Israel it is grey-white to white.

4. We have examined two males from Urfa [Şanlıurfa, Turkey] (see list of material examined), as well one female from Azerbaijan, NW Baku, Varafta Mts. These geographically isolated specimens agree morphologically with M. cinnamomea , although in this taxonomically difficult group it can not be excluded that they belong to other species. Further material is needed to confirm the presence of M. cinnamomea north of Israel.

Pollen hosts: This species is probably polylectic (C. Praz, field observations).

Nesting biology: Unknown.

Material examined: Type material: Lectotype ♂ of M. cinnamomea : in the original description of M. cinnamomea , the following information is provided on the type specimens ( Alfken 1926): “Mir liegen ausser den 6 ♀ der Sammlung Andres ein Pärchen (Typus) von Turrah, 7. Mai 1917, und 1♂ von Cairo, gesammelt von Schmiedeknecht, vor [I have examined beside the 6 females of the Andres collection a pair (Type) from Turrah, 7 May 1917, and a male from Cairo collected by Schmiedeknecht]”. We examined one male ( ZMHB) labeled as follows: 1. “Typus”. 2. “Tourrah, 7.5.97 ”. 3. Megachile cinnamomea ♂ Alfk. Type Alfken det [handwritten by Alfken]; 4. Zool. Mus. Berlin. 5. “ Lectotype Chalicodoma cinnamomea (Alfk.) det. Zanden 1993”. The date on the label does not exactly match that given in the original description, possibly because the label is difficult to read; since a label written by Alfken clearly identifies this specimen as the type, we follow Zanden’s unpublished designation and consider this male specimen as the lectotype. We also examined five females ( SMFD) from Egypt, leg A. Andres, which are considered here as paralectotypes.

Additional material: AZERBAIJAN: NW Baku Varafta Mts , W Kilyazi 250m 40°50N 49°10E [see note above] ; EGYPT: Al-Minufiyah, El-Shohada, Kafr Hegazi 30°35N 30°49E 10m, 21.5.2011, M. Shebl leg. ; Gizeh, 15.4.26, A. Andres leg. ; Kairo und Umgebung , 3.1935, A. Nadig leg. ; Sharkia, Houssania, Bahr Elbaker 30°55N 32°07E 2m from Nest , 3.5.2011, M. Shebl & S. Kamel leg. ; ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: 1km S Zafit 31°02’32’’N / 35°12’08’’E, 26.4.2010, Sedivy & Praz leg. ; 32km SE Beer Sheva 5km E Yeroham 30°58’/34°58, 11.5.1996, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; 5km SSE Sede Boqer Wadi En Aqev 30°49’N / 34°48’W, 12.5.1996, M. Hauser leg. ; 5km W Jericho Wadi Qelet St. George 31°50’/35°23, 6.5.1996, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; Bersheeba , 5.5., Bytinski-Salz leg. ; Ein Gedi , 30.3., 1.5., 16.4.1960, Bytinski-Salz leg. ; Hazeva , 4.4.2010, A. Gotlieb leg. ; Iddan , 29.4.2010, A. Gotlieb leg. ; Jericho , 21.4.1973, Bytinski-Salz leg. ; Nahal Lotz , 25.5.2014, G. Pisanty leg. ; Nahal Qumeran , 9.4.1986, A. Freidberg leg. ; W Jaelim , 29.2.1956, Fishelsohn leg. ; W Tamar , 24.3.1960, Fishelsohn leg. ; MOROCCO: 140km O Agadir, Aoulouz , 26.5.1995, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; 30km NNW Tazenakht , N 10 30.830 N 7.288 W 1440m, 15.6.2014, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; 40 km NW Zagora 1000m, 21.4.2008, Sedivy & Müller leg. ; 48km NEE Tata, Kasba ej Joua 29.687 N 7.499W, 12.4.2015, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; 6,68°/30,75°, M.6.1962, W. Schlaefle leg.; 7 km O el Kalaa d. Mgouna, M. 6.1962, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Agdz env., 13.5.2003, M. Snizek leg. ; Anti Atlas Agdz , 13.5.2003, M. Halada leg. ; Aoulouz, bridge on Souss River 30,697N 8,156W, 12.6.2014, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; Draa-Tal 10 km S Agdz, 27.5.1995, Hauser leg. ; Imiter , M.6.1962, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Mhamid env., 16.5., K. Denes leg. ; Ona Belli , 19.6.2003, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Oued Draa S Tagounite 85km SSE Zagora 29°58N 53°5W, 16.3.1997, M. Hauser leg. ; Qued Draa 34km SE Zagora 30°12’N / 53°7’W, 16.3.1997, M. Hauser leg. ; Tadderte , M.6.1962, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Tafraoute , 16.6.2003, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Taroudant , 11.5.2003, M. Halada leg. ; Taroudant env., 11.5.2003, M. Snizek leg. ; Tisgui- Ida-Ou-Balom (?), 18.6.2003, W. Schlaefle leg.; Tizi n. Tichka , 19– 21.7.1932, A. Nadig leg. ; Val. Draa 30km NW Zagora, 27.5.1995, C. Schmid-Egger leg. ; W of Taroudant, Oued Souss , 31.3.1983, G. Else leg. ; Zagora , 21.4.2008, F. Amiet leg. ; Zagora , M.6.1962, W. Schlaefle leg. ; TUNISIA: 17km N Gabès, Metouia, Oase , 20.6.1994, C. Schmid- Egger leg. ; Tozeur, 4.8.2002, W. Schlaefle leg. ; Tozeur, Nefta , 25.4.2012, C. Praz leg. ; TURKEY: Urfa, 31.5.1968, 30.5.1970, J. Gusenleitner leg. [see note above].

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic tree obtained in maximum likelihood analysis of the concatenated DNA matrix. Outgroup taxa are indicated in grey. The full dataset (two nuclear genes, 28S, and the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase I) was obtained for taxa in bold (“backbone phylogeny”), while other taxa only have the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase I. Numbers shown at nodes are bootstrap values based on 1000 bootstrap replicates performed in RAxML v.7.0.4. For the flavipes species group, the country is indicated as a two-letters country code. The different species groups recognized in the western Palaearctic as well as isolated species not included in these groups are indicated.