Nomia longicornis Smith, 1859

Wood, T. J., Risch, S., Orr, M. C. & Hogan, J. E., 2025, An illustrated type catalogue of the bee species collected by Alfred Russel Wallace and described by Frederick Smith from Southeast Asia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), European Journal of Taxonomy 1028, pp. 1-144 : 67-69

41. Nomia longicornis Smith, 1859

Fig. 42

Nomia longicornis Smith, 1859: 133 , ♂.

Type material examined

Holotype

INDONESIA • ♂; Aru ; [ 8 Jan.–2 Jul. 1857]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2800 .

Type locality

Aru.

Notes

Baker (1993: 205) wrote the following:

“ A ♂ in the UMO type collection, labelled ‘Aru’ [blue disc] and ‘ Nomia longicornis Smith’ [blue paper], is the HOLOTYPE of this species and it has now been labelled accordingly. It lacks all but the three basal segments of each antenna, and the apical segments of tarsus L I, but is otherwise in good condition.

N. cincta [modern author’s note: it is clear that Baker meant to write N. longicornis here] was provisionally assigned by Michener (1965: 161) to Nomia ( Mellitidia) but this placement requires confirmation: the species differs appreciably, in its general habitus and in structural and sculptural characters from such species as cincta Smith and dentata Smith. The type is quite strongly, not slightly, pace Michener l.c., metallic and in the fore-wing cell submarginal 3 ≈ 1: in other species examined 3 is conspicuously longer than 1 (≈ 1 + 2), belying the statement in Michener’s key to subfamilies (p. 152) of the Halictidae ”.

We can only state that this group of species requires a modern revision; Nomia longicornis is included in the key of Hirashima (1967) who did not examine the type or deal with the taxon in any detail.

Current status

Mellitidia longicornis ( Smith, 1859) ( Michener 1965; Hirashima 1967; Pauly 2009).

Distribution

Indonesia ( Maluku: Aru) ( Smith 1859; Ascher & Pickering 2024).