Borgatomelissa brevipennis (Walker)

Monks, Joseph, Polaszek, Andrew & Al-Jahdhami, Ali A., 2024, The bee genus Borgatomelissa Patiny, 2000 (Anthophila: Andrenidae: Panurginae) with the description of a new species from northern Oman, and a key to species, Journal of Natural History 58 (21 - 24), pp. 674-687 : 679-682

Borgatomelissa brevipennis (Walker)

( Figures 4–6 )

Diagnosis. A medium-sized species (body length ~ 12 mm) with an ivory, orange, and black integument. Hairs on the mesoscutellum dense and appressed. Body shape and hair patterns closely resemble those of B. samailensis . However, the species can be separated by the pale ivory face as opposed to lemon yellow in B. samailensis as well as differences in the shape of the subantennal sutures and upper margin of the clypeus.

Head. Labrum, clypeus, supraclypeal and paraocular areas below level of antennal pits ivory. Mandibles ivory excluding black apex. Frons and vertex black. Scape pale yellow. Pedicel and flagella red ventrally, brown dorsally. Abundant, white, simple, erect hairs on the lower margin of the mandibles, genae, frons and vertex. Face below antennal pits with loose covering of short white, erect hairs. Outer subantennal suture curves outwards, inner subantennal suture curves inwards ( Figure 4 ). Upper margin of clypeus curves upwards. Vertex straight, not raised above lateral ocelli. Clypeus viewed laterally flat. Genal width less than half that of compound eye.

Mesosoma. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum with dense covering of pale grey appressed hairs. Anterior third of mesoscutum with long, simple, white hairs breaking through appressed hairs. Long shaggy, simple white hairs covering pronotum, mesepisternum, metepisternum, metanotum and propodeum. Pronotal lobe, pronotum medially and anterior of tegula pale yellow. Mid and posterior half of tegula clear. Two pale yellow lateral dots on the mesoscutellum. Metanotum yellow ( Figure 5 ). Remaining integument black. Metanotum projecting upwards. Propodeum angulate, with a clear division between the sub-horizontal anterior half and the vertical posterior half.

Metasoma. T1–T3 integument orange with two black lateral dots on T1 and T2. T3 with a central black spot. T4 red. T5 black ( Figure 6 ). Sparse shaggy white hairs on the anterior face of T1. Appressed white hair bands on the marginal zone of T1 and pregradular and marginal zones of T2–T4 and prepygidial fimbria of T5.T2–T5 with a central appressed line of hairs connecting the hair bands on the pregradular and marginal zones. Pygidial fimbria with dense golden hairs, pygidial plate red anteriorly, black posteriorly. Lateral edges of pygidial plate with a strong carina. S1–S4 with complete shaggy hairbands.

Legs and wings. Legs yellow with a weak white scopa on the hind tibia and basitarsus. Scopal hairs simple. Mid-tibial spur as long as mid basitarsus, serrate with well separated teeth. Tarsal claws bifid. Arolium present. Forewings with three submarginal cells, veins orange.

Molecular results. A barcode sequence was obtained for a single female from Oman. Sequence differences between B. brevipennis and B. samailensis are summarised in the Molecular results section for the latter species. The raw DNA barcode sequence is available on the BOLD Systems database under BIN URI: BOLD: ADW0607; an edited CO1 sequence as a FASTA file (603 bp) is available on GenBank under accession number OR038199.

Note. The specimen proposed as the neotype was collected from northern Oman. This specimen was chosen as it conforms to the species concept of Patiny (2000) for B. brevipennis . Furthermore, the specimen is in good condition as well as having been DNA barcoded. The NHMUK holds additional specimens from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan. Apart from the Sudanese specimens (Nabardi, Nubian Desert), none of these localities is particularly close to the original type locality of the type described by Walker as Andrena brevipennis . Furthermore, there is some confusion regarding which specimen Walker (1871) intended as the type. Two type localities are given with his description: Harkeko (? = Arkiko, Eritrea) and Tajura (Tadjoura, Djibouti). J.K. Lord’s collection was housed in the Cairo School of Medicine ( Innes Bey 1911). However, by 1884 this collection was mostly destroyed by dermestid beetles, and only the original pins and labels remained:

These insects, according to what I was told by the curator of the School’s collections, had been received around 1872 through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of the entire collection, in 1884 only a few insects remained in poor condition, everything else had been completely destroyed by dermestids. Only the pins bearing the locality and the labels had resisted the repeated attacks of the enemies of the collections and I was able to note all the names and localities in the order in which they had been placed. ( Innes Bey, 1911)

As the Sudanese specimens are in poor condition, the Omani specimen was considered most suitable.

Material examined. Neotype female. OMAN: Ash Sharqiyah, nr. Ibra, 22.725200°N, 58.5975511°E, 407 m, 06.iv.2016, J. Monks leg. ( NHMUK 010819622 ); New country records: EGYPT: Ismailia, 16.vi.1941, K.U. Clarke leg; SUDAN: Om Nabardi Region , Nubian Desert, x.1907 ; Other material examined: SAUDI ARABIA: Abu Arish , 25. iii.1980, K.M. Guichard leg; OMAN: Wadi Quryat , Ag. Stn, 500 m, 05.iii.1976, K.M. Guichard leg.

Figures

Figure 4. Head of B. brevipennis (Walker) with ivory integument and outer subantennal suture curving outwards, inner subantennal suture curving inwards.

Figure 5. Borgatomelissa brevipennis (Walker) with two pale yellow lateral dots on the mesoscutellum. Metanotum yellow.

Figure 6. Prominent black dot on T2 of B. brevipennis (Walker).