Xylocopa (Schonnherria) simillima Smith 1854: 357–358

Mawdsley, Jonathan R., 2018, New records and diagnostic notes on large carpenter bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: genus Xylocopa Latreille), from the Amazon River basin of South America, Insecta Mundi 631, pp. 1-15 : 10

Xylocopa (Schonnherria) simillima Smith 1854: 357–358

Fig. 20

Known distribution. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Amazonas, Minas Gerais, Pará, Santa Catarina, São Paulo), Paraguay, Peru ( Hurd 1978: 23). Type locality: “ Australia ” ( Smith 1854: 358), which Hurd and Moure (1963: 315) indicate was almost certainly in error for South America.

Material examined. Brazil: Amazonas: Tapuruquara , VI.1961, L. Guindani (1 ♀), Tefé, VI.1957, R. Carvalho (1 ♀), XI.1959, R. Carvalho (5 ♀), XII.1959, R. Carvalho (1 ♀), 1-4.XII.1961, F. M. Oliveira (1 ♀), 8.XII.1961, F. M. Oliveira (1 ♀) ; Pará: Belem , VI.1946, M. Alvarenga (1 ♀), VII.1960, F. Oliveira (1 ♀), Mangabeira, Mocajuba, IV.1953, O. Rego (4 ♀), Óbidos, VIII.1957, F. M. Oliveira (2 ♀), XII.1955, F. M. Oliveira (1 ♀) ; Santarém , IX.1955, M. Alvarenga (22 ♀), XI.1955, M. Alvarenga (6 ♀), Santarém, Ulumari, 15.IX.1955, M. G. Silva (12 ♀) ; Rondônia: Abunã, XI.1962, W. Bokerman (8 ♀), Forte Principe da Beira , XI.1961, F. M. Oliveira (1 ♀), Vilhena, XI.1960, M. Alvarenga (2 ♀) .

Notes. Smith (1854: 357–358) based his original description of this species on female specimens in which the metasomal tergites of the female have distinct orange-pigmented transverse bands. However, in a majority of the female specimens that I examined, the metasomal tergites are entirely black. This color variation (entirely black metasomal tergites versus black tergites with orange transverse bands) is similar to the color variation displayed by various populations of the widespread X. (N.) frontalis ( Hurd 1978: 80–81) and also by X. (N.) nigrocincta Smith which occurs in Argentina, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. The female of X. (S.) simillima superficially resembles females of some of the sympatric species of subgenus Neoxylocopa but can be separated from the species of that subgenus by the lack of the central longitudinal carina on the metasomal sternites.

Figures

Figures 14–23. Dorsal habitus photographs of pinned, preserved specimens of females of Xylocopa (Schonnherria) species from the Amazon River basin, from the USNM collection. 14) X. (S.) dimidiata. 15) X. (S.) lucida. 16) X. (S.) macrops. 17) X. (S.) metallica. 18) X. (S.) muscaria. 19) X. (S.) ornata. 20) X. (S.) simillima. 21) X. (S.) subcyanea. 22) X. (S.) varians. 23) X. (S.) viridis.