Agapostemon virescens ( Fabricius, 1775 )

Sheffield, Cory S., Vilhelmsen, Lars & Bakker, Frederique, 2021, Taxonomy of the New World bee genus Agapostemon Guérin-Méneville - new names and synonymies (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 751 (1), pp. 1-23 : 6-9

Agapostemon virescens ( Fabricius, 1775)

Figs 1 , 7A–B , 8A–B , 9A

Andrena virescens Fabricius, 1775: 378 [♀].

Andrena nigricornis Fabricius, 1793: 313 [♂] [synonymy by Smith 1853: 86, though of Ag. virescens under Ag. nigricornis ; synonymy of Ag. virescens by Dalla Torre 1896: 98].

Apis viridula Fabricius, 1793: 3742 [♀]. syn. nov.

Halictus dimidiatus Lepeletier, 1841: 283 [♀] [synonymy of Ag. virescens by Dalla Torre 1896: 98; of Ag. viridulus by Robertson 1897: 326].

Halictus tricolor Lepeletier, 1841: 289 [♂] [synonymy of Ag. nigricornis by Cresson 1887: 293; synonymy of Ag. virescens by Dalla Torre 1896: 98].

Agapostemon bicolor Robertson, 1893: 148 [♀, ♂] [synonymy of Ag. viridula by Robertson 1895: 118; of Ag. virescens by Moure 1960: 103].

Material examined

Holotype

COUNTRY UNKNOWN • 1 ♀; “ America ”; BMNH (E) 668675 .

See https://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/4dece8b7-ab26-4233-86c9-de79d6a80a91.

Additional material

COUNTRY UNKNOWN • 1 ♀ (lectotype of Apis viridula Fabricius, 1793 , designated by Moure 1960: 104); [Type locality not indicated in original work; “Habitat in America boreali” was indicated by Fabricius (1804)]; NHMD ZMUC00241490 ( Fig. 2 ).

Notes

The location of the syntype ♂ of Andrena nigricornis Fabricius, 1793 , from Georgia, is unknown, as per Sandhouse 1936: 77 and Moure 1960: 104. The same it true with the ♀ type of Halictus dimidiatus Lepeletier, 1841 : “probablement de l’Amérique septentrionale” [Musée de M. Serville was indicated], and with the ♂ type of Halictus tricolor Lepeletier, 1841 : “Amérique septentrionale” [Musée de M. Serville was indicated, Roberts (1972) indicated Instituto e Musco de Zoologia, Universita di Torino, Italy].

The lectotype ♀ of Agapostemon bicolor Robertson, 1893 (designated by W.E. LaBerge in Webb 1980: 115) from USA, Illinois, Carlinville, 22 Sep. 1886, C.A. Robertson leg., INHS 3306, was not examined as the synonymy was not questioned.

Remarks

Under his discussion of Ag. virescens, Cockerell (1921) included a brief mention of Apis vitreus , originally named and described from the male (with a colour illustration) by Harris (1782: pl 39 fig. 17); in the figure caption, Harris (1782) mentioned the brilliant green head and thorax, with yellow mouthparts, antennae, legs and abdomen, the latter with six black bands, which is consistent with most male Agapostemon in North America (e.g., Roberts 1972). Cockerell (1921) felt that this name should be considered valid, and presumably a synonym of Ag. virescens . As Harris’s (1782) work was focused on the insects of England, Warncke (1973) considered it (as Apis vitreus Harris, 1776 , from England) a synonym of Halictus tumulorum (Linnaeus, 1758) . However, Ebmer (1974) considered Harris’s taxon nomen dubium, indicating that the synonymy of Warncke (1973) was incorrect, and suggested that the large size of 11.5–12.5 mm (from Ebmer (1974), based on Harris’s (1782) mention of “five lines and a half”) and description supported that it was likely a male of Agapostemon , partially supporting Cockerell’s (1921) opinion. Ebmer (1974) also indicated that it was likely that at the time of collection (i.e., pre-1776), the New England states (where it was presumably collected) were regarded as belonging to the “motherland” (i.e., England), though by the time of publication of Harris’s works (i.e., 1776–1782) the United States was independent. However, as four species of Agapostemon with males generally matching that described by Harris (1782) are found in the New England states, we follow Ebmer’s (1974) recommendation and consider Harris’s species nomen dubium until the type material can be located.

“America” was indicated as the type locality for Ag. virescens by Fabricius (1775), but the type specimen has seemingly been re-labelled after the fact (i.e., post Cresson 1887) with N[orth]. Amer[ica]. ( Fig. 1 ); the specimen was previously examined by Cockerell (1921) and later by Charles D. Michener (as per Roberts 1972) who both considered it a valid representation of this taxon. Smith (1853) considered Apis virescens Fabricius 1793 (not 1775) a synonym of Ag. nigricornis , presumably not realizing that the species had been named 18 years previous (though he attributed it to the Banks Collection, as is the type material).

Figures

Fig. 1. Andrena virescens Fabricius, 1775. Holotype, ♀ (BMNH(E) 668675). A. Lateral view. B. Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photo credit: Natural History Museum, London (2020). Data Portal Query on “Specimens” https://doi.org/10.5519/qd.7pgn1j4u. Subset of “Collection specimens” (dataset) https://doi.org/10.5519/0002965. Layout modified from original.

Fig. 7. Face of females (left column) and males (right column). A–B. Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius, 1775). C. Ag. semiviridis Cresson, 1865, lectotype [= Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844)]. D. Ag. femoralis. E–F. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869; note, the apex of clypeus of female is damaged.

Fig. 8. Propodeum. A–B. Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius, 1775), ♀ (A) and ♂ (B), showing distinctive carina encircling posterior surface. C. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869, ♀ [= Ag. femoralis (Guérin- Méneville, 1844)]. D. Ag. femoralis, ♂, with weak carina that does not encircle posterior surface.

Fig. 9.Dorsal view of the metosomaof male.A. Agapostemonvirescens (Fabricius, 1775).B. Ag. femoralis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844). C. Ag. obscuratus Cresson, 1869 [= Ag. femoralis].

Fig.2.ApisviridulaFabricius,1793.Lectotype,♀(NHMDZMUC00241490).A.Lateralview.B.Associated labels. C. Dorsal view. Photos by Jesper Birkedal Schmidt, Natural History Museum of Denmark [digitized assets http://daim.snm.ku.dk/digitized-type-collection-details-simple?catno=zmuc00241490].