Gaesischia (Gaesischioides) Freitas, 2022

Freitas, Felipe V., 2022, New genus and subgenus of South American long-horned bees (Apidae, Eucerini), Zootaxa 5196 (4), pp. 595-600 : 596

Gaesischia (Gaesischioides) Freitas New subgenus

Type species: Eucera hyptidis Ducke 1910 [p. 93]

Diagnosis: Gaesischia (Gaesischioides) hyptidis has five segmented maxillary palpi as in Gaesischia s. str. and G. (Gaesischiana), different from G. ( Gaesischiopsis ), which have four segmented maxillary palpi; the pilosity is predominantly pale in both sexes, in the remaining subgenera it is variable. Males: clypeus yellow; labrum black, generally with a small yellow/whitish area on its disc ( Fig. 1-f ); the sixth metasomal sternum with subapical carinae running parallel to posterior margin, broadly interrupted by the median line, and with a tuft of hairs on the disc ( Fig. 1-e ), these characters, in combination with those shared by both sexes, form a unique combination among the subgenera of Gaesischia . Females: clypeus black with a yellow triangular area on its apex ( Fig. 1-b ), which differentiates it from the remaining species of Gaesischia with five maxillary palpomerers and a yellow apical band on the clypeus.

Etymology: The subgenus name is a free combination of the generic name ( Gaesischia ) and the Latin suffix -oides, which means resemblance or likeliness.

Included species: Gaesischia (Gaesischioides) hyptidis ( Ducke 1910) .

Distribution: The species was described by Ducke (1910) and redescribed by Urban (1968) based on specimens from the state of Ceará, Brazil. There are also records from the states of Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte, suggesting that this species is associated with the Caatinga in northeastern Brazil.

Comments: Gaesischia hyptidis , as highlighted in previous treatments of Gaesischia taxonomy, is a distinct species ( Moure & Michener 1955). It was firstly positioned in the subgenus G. ( Agaesischia ) together with G. patellicornis , but with a caveat that this was a tentative decision ( Moure & Michener 1955). It was later transferred to Gaesischia s. str. ( Laberge 1958; Urban 1968a) but still retained under G. ( Agaesischia ) in Moure’s Catalog for Neotropical bee species ( Urban et al. 2012). According to the results of Freitas et al. (in prep.), it is recovered as the sister lineage of the clade containing Gaesischia s. str. + G. ( Gaesischiopsis ), or as sister to G. ( Gaesischiopsis ), highlighting its distinctiveness, as already noticed by Moure & Michener (1955), when speculating on the possible proximity of G. hyptidis and G. ( Gaesischiopsis ). The easiness of identifying both males and females of G. hyptidis using the two identification keys available in the comprehensive reviews of Gaesischia conducted by Urban (1968, 1989c) reinforces the distinctiveness of this species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Gaesischia (Gaesischioides) hyptidis (Ducke 1910): Female in a) lateral and b) frontal views. Male in c) lateral view, d) frontal view, e) sixtieth sterna (S6), and f) labrum. Specimens from Ceará, Brazil, studied by Danuncia Urban (DZUP) and used as references to confirm the identity of the vouchers used in the phylogenetic study subsidizing the proposal of this new taxon. Scale bars = 2 mm.