Asperplebeia, Engel & Herhold & Davis & Wang & Thomas, 2021

Engel, Michael S., Herhold, Hollister W., Davis, Steven R., Wang, Bo & Thomas, Jennifer C., 2021, Stingless bees in Miocene amber of southeastern China (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Journal of Melittology 2021 (105), pp. 1-83 : 68

Plebeia Genus Group

The Plebeia genus group is a large and diverse lineage of Neotropical stingless bees, and currently includes four clades (Rasmussen & Cameron, 2010) ( Table 2). The Tetragonisca clade comprises Tetragonisca Moure, Frieseomelita Ihering , Duckeola Moure , and Trichotrigona Camargo & Moure , although the last three could be united as subgenera of a single genus. The Scaura clade includes only the genus Scaura Schwarz and its two subgenera. Should future studies continue to indicate that Scaura s.str. is paraphyletic to Schwarzula Moure (e.g., Rasmussen & Cameron, 2010), then these two should be united and no subgenera recognized. The Nannotrigona clade comprises Nannotrigona Cockerell and Schwarziana Moure. Lastly , the Plebeia clade — Plebeia Schwarz , Friesella Moure, Lestrimelita Friese , Plectoplebeia Melo , and Asperplebeia n. gen. — is one of the most challenging groups among New World Meliponini , with many difficult to distinguish species in Plebeia and potential intergradations between this genus and Plectoplebeia ( Engel , in press-c). A key encompassing the entire group as it is currently conceived has been lacking and so one is presented here in an atempt to aid the identification of these bees.