Lasioglossum (Dialictus) surianae ( Mitchell 1960 )

Gardner, Joel & Gibbs, Jason, 2023, Revision of the Nearctic species of the Lasioglossum (Dialictus) gemmatum species complex (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 858 (1), pp. 1-222 : 170-174

Lasioglossum (Dialictus) surianae ( Mitchell 1960)

Figs 67–69

Dialictus surianae Mitchell, 1960: 420 (holotype, ♀, deposited in FSCA, examined).

Lasioglossum (Dialictus) surianae – Krombein 1967: 466 (catalogue). — Gibbs 2011: 26 , 32 (key to species), 185 (redescription).

Dialictus surianae – Hurd 1979: 1972 (catalogue). — Moure & Hurd 1987; 132 (catalogue).

Diagnosis

Females of L. surianae have the tegula very small (maximum length less than half ITS and not reaching posterior margin of mesoscutum in dorsal view) with inner posterior margin straight, translucent yellow, and very finely, sparsely punctate (IS = 2–6 PD); mesepisternum shiny and densely punctate (IS <1 PD); postgena dull with lineolate microsculpture; frons shiny with distinct (but still very narrow) interspaces between punctures; and metasoma red-orange with terga reddish brown at base. The tegula punctures are so fine that at low magnification or at certain angles, they may not be visible and the tegula will appear impunctate.

Females of L. surianae are most similar to those of L. deludens sp. nov., L. diabolicum sp. nov., and L. rufodeludens sp. nov. Females of L. deludens and L. rufodeludens have the tegula impunctate except on extreme anterior margin and postgena smooth and shiny. In addition, females of L. deludens have the metasoma black to brown (sometimes slightly reddish on apical rims), and females of L. rufodeludens have the mesepisternum dull. Females of L. diabolicum have the frons dull and reticulate with no distinct interspaces between punctures.

Males of L. surianae have the tegula small (as in the female), face with tomentum limited to lower paraocular area, and mesepisternum shiny and densely punctate (IS ≤ 1 PD). The only male specimen available for study was missing the metasoma, so additional diagnostic characters on the metasoma may exist.

Males of L. surianae are most similar to those of L. deludens sp. nov., L. diabolicum sp. nov., L. rufodeludens sp. nov., and L. perparvum , all of which (except L. perparvum ) have the face entirely covered with dense tomentum below the eye emargination. In addition, males of L. deludens and L. rufodeludens have the tegula impunctate except on extreme anterior margin. Males of L. perparvum have the clypeus with some sparse tomentum and tegula usually dark brown.

Etymology

Mitchell (1960) named this species after the plant Suriana maritima L., one of its hosts.

Material examined

Holotype UNITED STATES – Florida • ♀; Plantation Key ; [24.985° N, 80.546° W]; 27 Nov. 1955; H.V. Weems Jr. leg.; FCSA.

Other material

BAHAMAS • 2 ♀♀; Great Exuma, Georgetown N., Island #26; 23.5° N, 75.75° W; 8 Aug. 2004; M.F. Keller leg.; PCYU • 1 ♂; Gorda Cay ; 26.0833° N, 77.5333° W; 26 Jun.–7 Jul. 1998; T. Peak leg.; UCFC • 1 ♀; ibid.; 7–16 Jul. 1998; T. Peak leg.; UCFC .

UNITED STATES – Florida • 1 ♀; Key Vaca ; [24.76° N, 80.96° W]; 28 Dec. 1955; H. V. Weems Jr. leg.; CUIC • 1 ♀; Monroe Co., Stock Island ; [24.57° N, 81.74° W]; 15 Oct. 1963; H. V. Weems Jr. leg.; CUIC • 1 ♀; Monroe Co., Big Pine Key ; [24.69° N, 81.37° W]; 23 Jun. 1971; W.H. Pierce leg.; CUIC • 1 ♂; ibid.; 19 May 1971; W.H. Pierce leg.; CUIC .

Range

Florida and Bahamas ( Fig. 69 ).

Floral hosts (from Mitchell 1960 and Gibbs 2011)

ASTERACEAE : Bidens : B. pilosa • CONVOLVULACEAE : Jacquemontia Choisy • SURIANACEAE Arn. : Suriana L.: S. maritima L.

DNA barcodes

One confirmed sequence available (BOLD process ID: BEECB173-07). It is closest in terms of p-distance to L. pseudotegulare (4.29% minimum interspecific p-distance). Nine fixed nucleotide substitutions distinguish L. surianae from all other Nearctic species of the L. gemmatum complex: 15(A), 105(C), 123(C), 276(C), 288(G), 358(C), 399(C), 420(T), and 564(T) (Supp. file 2).

Figures

Fig. 67. Lasioglossum (D.) surianae (Mitchell, 1960), ♀ (PCYU). A. Lateral habitus. B. Dorsal habitus. C. Face. D. Metasoma and propodeum. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Fig. 68. Lasioglossum (D.) surianae (Mitchell, 1960), ♂ (reproduced from Gibbs 2011) (UCFC). A. Lateral habitus. B. Face. C. Mesonotum. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Fig. 69. Georeferenced collection records of Lasioglossum (D.) surianae (Mitchell, 1960) (black squares) and predicted distribution by maximum entropy ecological niche modelling in Maxent (colour shading). Warmer colours indicate higher cloglog probability of occurrence. Because many coastal records lacked soil data, the model was generated without soil type as an environmental variable.