Sphecodes setiger Blüthgen, 1924

Astafurova, Yulia & Proshchalykin, Maxim, 2020, New and little-known bees of the genus Sphecodes Latreille, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Halictidae) from the Himalayas, European Journal of Taxonomy 729, pp. 74-120 : 104-106

Sphecodes setiger Blüthgen, 1924

Fig. 16 A–D

Sphecodes setiger Blüthgen, 1924: 511–512 , ♀.

Sphecodes setiger – Ascher & Pickering 2020: map.

Diagnosis

This species is similar to small Palaearctic species with simple mandibles which lack the inner tooth (i.e., Sphecodes decorus ( Cameron, 1897) , S. longuloides Blüthgen, 1923 , S. hirtellus Blüthgen, 1923 , S. longulus Hagens, 1882 , S. puncticeps Thomson, 1870 , S. turanicus Astafurova & Proshchalykin, 2017 and S. trjapitzini Astafurova & Proshchalykin, 2018 ). Among these species S. setiger is closest to S. puncticeps , but differs from this species by having square (as long as wide) F1 and F2 (vs 0.6– 0.7 times as long as wide).

Material examined

Holotype INDIA • ♀; “Type // Simla [India], Nurse 9. 98 // Col. C.G. Nurse Collection. 1920-72 // Sph. setiger , ♀, Type P. Blüthgen det. // B.M.Type HYM.17a562”; NHMUK 013380328 .

Descriptive notes

Wings hyaline, without darkening; hind wing with basal vein strongly curved with the angle between basal (M) and cubital (Cu) veins almost 90°, costal margin with five hamuli.

Female

Total body length 5.5 mm. Head strongly transverse, 1.25 times as wide as long ( Fig. 16A ); vertex not elevated; F1–F3 square, as long as wide ( Fig. 16B ); clypeus with punctures separated by at most a puncture diameter; ocello-ocular area with dense punctures separated by at most a half puncture diameter; paraocular and supraclypeal areas with relatively dense plumose pubescence, but not obscuring integument. Mesoscutum with punctures (15–30 μm) separated by at most a puncture diameter; hypoepimeral area coarsely reticulate; legs red-brownish. Metasomal T1 impunctate, except a few punctures (5 μm) along marginal zone; anterior half of T2–T4 discs distinctly punctate (10– 15 μm / 2–5), sparser on posterior half; T1–T3 red ( Fig. 16C ); pygidial plate as wide as metabasitarsus.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution

Himalayas: India (Himachal Pradesh).

Remarks

Since we could not clearly differentiate between females of S. setiger and S. puncticeps , except by relative flagellar length, more specimens from the type locality including the male are needed to be studied to make a decision on their synonymy.

Figures

Fig. 16. Sphecodes setiger Blüthgen, 1924. Holotype, ♀ (NHMUK 013380328). A. Head in frontal view. B. Antenna in lateral view. C. Metasoma in dorsal view. D. Labels. Scale bars = 1 mm.