Centris lanipes subtarsata Cockerell, 1949

Vivallo, Felipe, 2020, The bees of the genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 618, pp. 1-47 : 16-17

Centris lanipes subtarsata Cockerell, 1949

Fig. 10

Centris (Rhodocentris) lanipes subtarsata Cockerell, 1949: 476–477 .

Junior synonym of C. (Hemisiella) trigonoides Lepeletier, 1841 ( Snelling 1984) .

Type data

Cockerell described this subspecies based on an undetermined number of male and female specimens collected on an adobe wall at San Francisco ranch near Zamorano, Honduras, on November 10. Although he mentioned that the type was from that locality, he failed to mention the sex of the specimen chosen. At NMNH, a male specimen was found with original labels of Cockerell, one with the name of the new subspecies and the word “type”, and the other indicating that it was collected at an adobe wall in San Francisco, on November 3 not 10 as Cockerell mentioned explicitly. In the same collection, a female collected by Cockerell was found that bears an original label of Cockerell that agrees exactly with the information provided in the original description, but mentions in Cockerell's handwriting “cotype”. Both specimens have subtle inconsistencies on the information labels and no additional specimens of the type series were found at NMNH or in any other collection that contains Cockerell’s types of Centris bees ( AMNH, ANSP, CAS, NHMUK, OUMNH and ZMB). Despite the differences cited above, I am interpreting the male specimen as the holotype of the species, following the information on its label. The holotype ( Fig. 10 ) has the following data label: [?] adobe wall S. Francisco finca Honduras Nov. 3 [handwritten]\ 3 [handwritten]\ Centris lanipes subtarsata Ckll Type [handwritten]\ [red label] Type No [printed] 58884 [handwritten] USNM [printed]\ [yellow label] USNM ENT 00534216 [barcode] [printed]\\ DO NOT REMOVE SI DB Reference Not a property tag T. Schultz NMNH [printed]. The female paratype has the following data label: San Francisco finca Zamorano Honduras Nov 10 [handwritten]\ 2 [handwritten]\ Centris lanipes subtarsata Ckll cotype [handwritten]\ [red label] Allotype No. [printed] 58884 [handwritten] U.S. N.M. [printed]. The current condition and depository of any other possible paratype are unknown.

Cockerell also mentioned a male specimen collected in San José, Guatemala on December 22, 1946, by A. Pelén, probably Amador Pelén Cantoral (1923–2007), an former student and employee of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana ( Pitty 2008). It is not clear whether this specimen belonged to the type series, and unfortunately, it was not found during this research.

Type locality

Honduras: Francisco Morazán Department: Zamorano.

Comment

Moure et al. (2007) also interpreted the male specimen cited above as the holotype of this species.

Figures

Fig. 10. Centris lanipes subtarsata Cockerell, 1949, holotype, ♂ (NMNH; USNM ENT 00534216). A. Frontal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. Scale bars: A = 1 mm; B = 2 mm.