Augochlora (Augochlora) ignifera Crawford, 1914

Gibbs, Jason, 2016, Bees of the family Halictidae Thomson, 1869 from Dominica, Lesser Antilles (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), European Journal of Taxonomy 180, pp. 1-50 : 42

Augochlora (Augochlora) ignifera Crawford, 1914

Fig. 22 A–C

Augochlora ignifera Crawford, 1914: 46 .

Type locality

DOMINICA: Yale Expedition 1913, Jun. –Jul. 1913, coll. H.W. Foote, Cat. No. USNM 16734 ( NMNH, holotype, ♀).

Remarks

Augochlora ignifera is the only member of this genus and tribe currently known from the island, and it can easily be distinguished from other halictid bees on that basis. The female is particularly distinctive due to the fiery red iridescence covering most of the head, mesosoma and metasoma ( Fig. 22 A–C). The wings are faintly dusky. The male has a more coppery and greenish tone ( Crawford 1914). The closest islands with a relatively well known halictid fauna are St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Six augochlorine bees are recorded from those islands ( Ashmead 1900; Moure 2007). Future studies should compare A. ignifera to these species and others which presumably occur on intermediary islands but remain undocumented.

Figures

Fig. 22. Augochlora ignifera Crawford, 1914. Holotype, ♀. A. Face. B. Lateral habitus. C. Dorsal habitus. Images of A. ignifera provided with the permission of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20560-0193 (http://www. nmnh.si.edu/).