Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) guayaqui Schrottky

Gonzalez, Victor H., Griswold, Terry & Engel, Michael S., 2018, South American Leaf-Cutter Bees (Genus Megachile) Of The Subgenera Rhyssomegachile And Zonomegachile, With Two New Subgenera (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2018 (425), pp. 1-73 : 1-73

Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) guayaqui Schrottky

Figures 4C , 14 , 15

Megachile guayaqui Schrottky, 1913: 171 (neotype ♀ [here designated], NCSU 0021932: Nova Teutonia, Santa Catarina, Brazil). Moure et al., 2007: 991 (placement in Rhyssomegachile Mitchell ).

DIAGNOSIS: This species is known only from the female sex and can be easily distinguished by the strong carina along the entire preoccipital margin (fig. 15C, D) (present only behind the gena in all other species of the subgenus). The dorsum of the mesosoma with long (≥2.0× OD), light reddish-brown setae contrasting with the remaining whitish pubescence of the body, as well as the yellowish wings with yellow to light brown veins, are also distinctive features that distinguish this species from all other Rhyssomegachile .

REDESCRIPTION: Female: total body length 11.9 mm; forewing length 7.8 mm; head width 3.6 mm. Head 1.2× wider than long; intertorular distance 1.5× torulorbital distance; interocellar distance 2.2× OD, 0.9× ocellocular distance; ocelloccipital distance 2.7× OD, 1.1× ocellocular distance; clypeus with distal margin entire, slightly incurved medially; scape 3.6× longer than broad, pedicel about as long as F1, each 1.1× longer than broad, F2 about as long as broad, slightly longer than F1, F3–F9 longer than broad, distalmost flagellomere longest, 1.8× longer than broad; carina behind gena continuing onto vertex. Metatibia 3.2× longer than broad; metabasitarsus 2.8× longer than broad, shorter (0.8×) and narrower (0.9×) than metatibia.

Body color black, except dark reddish brown on antennae, legs, and basal sterna. Tegula light reddish brown; wings yellowish; veins and pterostigma yellow to light brown.

Head and mesosoma with pubescence largely white, except: brownish gray to dark brown on clypeus, supraclypeal area, and outer surfaces of tibiae and tarsi; light reddish brown on dorsum of mesosoma (setae ≥2.0× OD). T1–T5 each with yellow to light reddish-brown apical fasciae, discs of T1–T3 with scattered, semierect dark reddish-brown setae, discs of T4–T6 with yellow to light reddish-brown appressed setae from which unbranched, scattered, erect to semierect setae arise; sternal scopa white except dark brown setae on sides of S3–S5 and S6 apically. Ventral surface of mesepisternum and legs without modified setae.

Face and vertex coarsely and contiguously punctate, except discs of clypeus and supraclypeal area with sparser punctures (1.0–3.0× PW), surface among punctures angular on frons, rounded otherwise; gena with shallower, sparser punctures than on vertex, punctures stronger and closer on lower gena and hypostomal area; outer surface of mandible with carinae faintly imbricate, nearly smooth and shiny. Pronotum strongly imbricate with contiguous, smaller, shallower punctures than on mesoscutum; mesoscutum and mesoscutellum imbricate with coarser and larger punctures than on vertex, spaced (≤0.5× PW); axilla with contiguous, smaller punctures than on mesoscutum; mesepisternum weakly imbricate with larger (1.5×), sparser (≤1.0× PW) punctures than on mesoscutum, punctures becoming smaller and closer dorsally; metepisternum and propodeum imbricate, with oval, faint, and spaced (≤1.0× PW) punctures on metepisternum, about as large as those on mesepisternum dorsally; lateral surface of propodeum mostly with small, widely separated (2.0–4.0× PW) punctures; legs weakly imbricate to smooth and shiny, coarsely and densely (≤1.0× PW) punctate, punctures larger and sparser on hind legs. Terga weakly imbricate, minutely and densely punctate, punctures separated by 1.0–2.0× a puncture width on discs, closer on apical terga; sterna strongly imbricate, coarsely punctate, punctures smaller and closer on basal sterna.

Male: Unknown.

NEOTYPE (here designated): ♀, Brazil, Nova Teutonia, S. Catharina, F. Plaumann, Dec 6, 1939 / M. (subgenus?) guayaqui Schr. as det. 1982, in T.B. Mitchell collection/ Megachile guayaqui Schr. det. J.S. Moure, 1957/NCSU 0021932/ ♀ Neotype Megachile guayaqui Schrottky, Des. V.H. Gonzalez, M.S. Engel, & T. Griswold 2016 (NCSU). Schrottky (1913) described this species from a female specimen from Hohenau, Itapúa, Paraguay. The type of this species, as many others described by C. Schrottky, is likely lost ( Rasmussen et al., 2009). Thus, to stabilize this name, we here designate as neotype a female specimen collected 20 years after Schrottky’s description in Nova Teutonia, Brazil, about 300 km west from the type locality. Although this specimen is not from the type locality, it was determined by J.S. Moure as M. guayaqui in 1957 and matches Schrottky’s original description.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED (n = 13♀♀): Brazil: 1♀, Santa Caterina , Nova Teutonia, Brazil, XI-1951, L.E. Plaumann / SEMC 1178592 ( SEMC) ; 2♀♀, ut supra, S. Catharina, F. Plaumann , Dec 6 1939 / NCSU 0021933 , -34 ( NCSU) ; 8♀♀, ut supra, Dec 8 1939 / NCSU 0021935–41 , 0021944 ( NCSU) ; 1♀, ut supra, Dec 7 1939 / NCSU 0021942 ( NCSU) ; 1♀, Brasilien , Nova Teutonia, 27°11′B, 52°23′L, Fritz Plaumann, 25-11-1936 / NCSU 0021943 ( NCSU) .

DISTRIBUTION: In addition to the type locality in Paraguay, Moure et al. (2007) list this species from the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Some morphological features used in the phylogenetic analysis. A–C. Punctation of mesoscutum. D–F. Pubescence of outer surface of female protarsi. A. Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) simillima Smith (female holotype). B. M. (Aporiochile) tricosa Cockerell (male holotype). C. M. (Rhyssomegachile) guayaqui Schrottky (female neotype). D, E. M. (Rhyssomegachile) kartaboensis Mitchell (female holotype). F. M. (Zonomegachile) moderata Smith (female holotype).

FIGURE 14. Collection localities for species of Megachile (Rhyssomegachile).

FIGURE 15. Female neotype of Megachile (Rhyssomegachile) guayaqui Schrottky. A. Facial view. B. Lateral habitus. C. Dorsal habitus. D. Detail of the left anterolateral area of mesoscutum and gena with arrows pointing to the carinate preoccipital margin.