Colletes annejohnae Kuhlmann, 2003

Ferrari, Rafael R., Niu, Ze-Qing, Kuhlmann, Michael, Zhang, Dan & Zhu, Chao- Dong, 2021, The cellophane bees of Colletes Latreille (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) from Xizang (Tibet), China, Zootaxa 5022 (1), pp. 1-72 : 48-49

Colletes annejohnae Kuhlmann, 2003

( Figs 29C , 31A–F , 45A )

Colletes annejohnae Kuhlmann, 2003b: 727 (holotype ♀: Kazakhstan, 30km ENE of Shelek [OÖLM]).

Colletes annejohnae ; Kuhlmann 2005: 1369; 2009a: 16; Kuhlmann & Proshchalykin 2013a: 417 , 2015: 97, 2018: 6; Niu et al. 2014b: 469 ; Ascher & Pickering 2021.

Diagnosis. Colletes annejohnae cannot be confused with any species of the genus found in Xizang due to its remarkably short malar area, which is only 0.3× as long as basal width of mandible in males and virtually absent in females. Females of C. annejohnae are also unique in having the T1 covered with off-white dense tomentum anteriorly (in all other females the anterior area of T1 has either erect pubescence only or erect hairs intermixed with sparse appressed ones). Males of C. annejohnae can be further differentiated from those of the Tibetan Colletes by their pale-brown wing venation (wing venation is always dark-brown to black in the other males).

Material examined. Published records — CHINA, Xinjiang: Fuhai Xian , 47.10 87.50, 500 m, 24.vii.1960, SY Wang, 13 ♂ . Huocheng Xian , 44.00 80.80, 460 m, 12.vii.1957, CP Hong, 1 ♂ . Mosouwan, Banyaodi , 44.70 86.20, 350 m, 26.vii.1957, CP Hong, 2 ♂ . KAZAKHSTAN, Shelek: 30km ENE of Halbwüste , 43.6873 78.6416, 500 m, 2.viii.2002, M Kuhlmann, 1 ♀, [ RCMK] .

New records —none.

Distribution. Relatively broadly distributed in Central Asia ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) and ranging as far east as western China (Xinjiang).

DNA barcode. Unavailable.

Floral hosts. Tamaricaceae : Tamarix sp.

Remarks. Colletes annejohnae is known to be endemic to steppic regions of Central Asia and western China; therefore, the fact that we did not find it among the new material examined by us is not surprising. The species has nonetheless been recorded from Xizang previously ( Ascher & Pickering 2021), which is why it is included in the scope of this paper. However, its occurrence there could not be confirmed by us because the source specimens cannot be located in the AMNH (C. Smith, pers. comm.), where they are supposedly deposited.

Figures

FIGURE 29. Confirmed geographic records of the Colletes species found in Xizang based on the examined material. (A) C. luzhouensis; (B) C. pseudolaevigena; (C) C. annejohnae; (D) C. bhutanicus.

FIGURE 31. Colletes annejohnae Kuhlmann, 2003. Female: (A) habitus, lateral view; (C) face, frontal view. Male: (B) habitus, lateral view; (D) face, frontal view; (E) genital capsule, lateral view; (F) S7, ventral view. Scale bars: (A–D) 2 mm; (E, F) 1

FIGURE 45. Dorsal view of metasoma: (A) T1 covered with dense tomentum anteriorly in the female Colletes annejohnae; (B) T1 without tomentum anteriorly in the female C. tuberculatus. Lateral view of metasoma: (C) T1 with subappressed short hairs basolaterally in the female C. hedini; (D) T1 with erect long hairs basolaterally in the female C. tibeticus. Scale bars: 1 mm.