Centris (Melanocentris) ephippia Smith, 1854

Vivallo, Felipe, 2019, Taxonomic notes, lectotype designations and new synonymies in some species of the bee genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Sándor Mocsáry and Heinrich Friese (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Zootaxa 4638 (4), pp. 534-546 : 537-539

Centris (Melanocentris) ephippia Smith, 1854

Centris ephippium Smith, 1854 . 378.

Type data: Syntype male ( NHMUK).

Type locality: Venezuela.

Centris aeneiventris Mocsáry, 1899: 252 . New junior synonymy

Type data: Mocsáry (1899) did not mention how many females he used to describe this species. A single female that agrees with the information contained in the original description was found at HNHM. This specimen is interpreted as a primary type, being here designated as the lectotype. It has the following data label: Bolivia S. Antonio [printed]\ C. aeneiventris Mocs. ♀ [handwritten] det. Friese 1898 [printed].

Type locality: Bolivia: “S. Antonio” (= San Antonio).

Centris intermixta Friese, 1899a: 47 . New junior synonymy

Type data: Friese (1899a) described this species based on two males housed at ZMB. In 1995, Moure mentioned he studied de holotype of this species, indicating the following information: “Cauia/ Matto Grosso Rhode/; the identification label: / Centris intermixta ³ det Friese 1898 n. sp./ and the label of the Museum: /Zool. Mus. / Berlin /. Although this information is incomplete, it is possible to recognize which of the two males was the one he studied. According to the Article 74.6 of the ICZN (1999), this can be considered a valid lectotype designation. The lectotype has the following data label: Cauia [handwritten]\ [green label] Matto grosso Rohde [printed]\ Centris intermixta n. sp. ³ [handwritten] det. Friese 1898 [printed]\ [red label] Type [printed]\ Zool. Mus. Berlin [blue printed]\ [red label] Lectotipo [printed]\ Centris ruficauda Friese, 1900 ³ [handwritten] Det. J. S. Moure 19 [printed] 93 [hand- written]\ [white label with red lateral margins] Lectotype desig. Melo, 2016 [printed] Centris intermixta Friese, 1899 [handwritten]\ http://coll.mfa-berlin.de/u/ 59fa3a barcode [printed]. Paralectotype male with the following data label: [green label] Matto grosso Rohde [printed]\ Centris intermixta n. sp. ³ [handwritten] det. Friese 1898 [printed]\ [orange label] Type [printed]\ [white label with yellow lateral margins] Paralectotype desig. Melo, 2016 [printed] Centris intermixta Friese, 1899 [handwritten].

Type locality: Brazil: Mato Grosso state: “Cauia”.

Centris pseudoephippia Friese, 1899a: 47 . New junior synonymy

Type data: Holotype male ( AMNH, examined) with the following data label: Venezuela St. Parime 1897 [print- ed]\ Centris pseudoephippia Fr. ³ [handwritten] 1901 Friese det. [printed]\ Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Dept. Invert. Zool. No. [printed] 26074 [handwritten]\ Type [red square, printed]\ AMNH _ IZC 00324046 [printed, barcode].

Type locality: Venezuela: Amazonas state: “St. Parime” (= Sierra de Parima).

Centris ruficauda Friese, 1899a . 47.

Type data: As in C. intermixta , this species was described based on two male specimens housed at ZMB (examined). A lectotype is here designated with the following data label: Matto Grosso Rohde [green label, printed]\ Centris ruficauda n. sp. ³ [handwritten] det. Friese 1898 [printed]\ Type [orange label, printed]\ Zool. Mus. Berlin [blue printed]\ Lectotipo [red label, printed]\ [white label with red lateral margins] Lectotype desig. Melo, 2016 [printed] Centris ruficauda Friese, 1899 [handwritten]\ http://coll.mfa-berlin.de/u/ 58fa3b barcode [printed]. Paralectotype male with the following data label: Matto Grosso Rohde [green label, printed]\ Centris ruficauda n. sp. ³ [handwritten] det. Friese 1898 [printed]\ Type [orange label, printed]\ Zool. Mus. Berlin [blue printed]\ Zool. Mus. Berlin [blue printed]\ [white label with yellow lateral margins] Paralectotype desig. Melo, 2016 [printed] Centris ruficauda Friese, 1899 [handwritten].

Type locality: Brazil: Mato Grosso state.

Comments: When Friese (1899a) described C. pseudoephippia and C. ruficauda he recognized certain similarities between each of these species and C. aeneiventris . Subsequently, he mentioned the similarities between C. ruficauda and C. intermixta , indicating only subtle differences in the pattern of coloration of the pubescence of the two species. Moure (1995) agreed with Friese’s comment on C. ruficauda and C. intermixta proposing the former as junior synonym of the latter species, but he had a different opinion on the similarity between the latter species with C. aeneiventris . Citing some notes he made during a visit to the NHMUK, Moure (1995) indicated that C. ephippia was not related to any of the species cited above, because it was a member of the subgenus C. ( Ptilocentris ) Snelling, 1984 and not of C. (Melanocentris) (cited as C. ( Melacentris ) Moure, 1995), as are also C. aeneiventris , C. pseudoephippia and C. intermixta . This interpretation was followed by Moure et al. (2007) and published as such in the Catalogue of Bees in the Neotropical Region. The critical study of the type specimens of all of these species allowed me to corroborate the synonymy proposed by Moure (1995) between C. ruficauda and C. intermixta , as well as to propose the former species, along with C. pseudoephippia and C. aeneiventris as junior synonymies of C. ephippia . This species is one of the many members of the subgenus C. (Melanocentris) and not of C. ( Ptilocentris ) as it had been affirmed in previous articles (see Moure, 1995 and Moure et al., 2007).

The lectotype designated for C. ruficauda was already labeled as such. The choice of the specimen was maintained because it is in good condition. Taxonomic decision for synonymy: Moure (1995) and this work.