Anthophora elegans 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 : 75-77

47. Anthophora elegans Smith, 1859

Fig. 48

Anthophora elegans Smith, 1859: 135 , ♀.

Type material examined

Lectotype

INDONESIA • ♀; Ké [Kai]; [ 1–6 Jan. 1857]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2806-01 ( lectotype indicated by Baker 1993, de facto lectotype by present designation).

Paralectotype

INDONESIA • 1 ♀; Key I. [Kai]; [ 1–6 Jan. 1857]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2806-02 .

Type locality

Key Island [= Kai].

Notes

Baker (1993: 208) wrote the following:

“ Two ♀♀ in the UMO type collection are labelled:-

a) ‘Ké’ [white disc], ‘ Anthophora elegans . Smith’ [blue paper, Smith], and ‘elegans Sm. HOLOTYPE Det. M.A. Lieftinck 1955 ’. In poor condition: has been wetted. The head, and legs R I and R III, have at some time been broken off and crudely re-attached; leg L it is missing from the trochanter, R II from the basitarsus.

b) ‘Key I.’ [blue disc], ‘ Anthoph elegans , Smith’ [blue paper, Smith], and ‘elegans Sm. HOLOPARATYPE [sic: what this term is supposed to mean I do not pretend to know] Det. M.A. Lieftinck 1955 ’. In similar condition to (a), but intact.

[A third ♀, labelled ‘Cer.’ [white disc], ‘ Anthidium [!] elegans [rule] Smith’ [blue paper], and ‘nec elegans Sm. Det. M.A. Lieftinck 1955 ’, evidently the basis of Smith’s 1863 record from Ceram, is not conspecific (clypeus not carinate, facial markings more extensive, tergal fasciae narrower).]

A ♀ and a ♂ in NHM are labelled ‘Ké / 5 8 1 2 4 ’ [recte, 1858.23: see notes on B.M. Wallace/Stevens accessions), the ♀ also ‘ Anthophora elegans [rule] Smith’. Another ♀, labelled ‘Amb’ [white disc] and ‘ Amegilla elegans Sm , ssp. alfura Lieft. dt. M.A. Lieftinck ‘60’, is evidently the basis of Smith’s 1860 record from Amboyna. [The name alfura was never published.]

The two ♀♀ in UMO and the NHM ♀ labelled ‘Ké’ are accepted as syntypes of elegans ; the ♂ in NHM labelled ‘Ké’ may also be a syntype (the sexes of elegans are superficially very similar and Smith may have overlooked the presence of a ♂ in Wallace’s series) but is probably best excluded from treatment as a paralectotype: it has accordingly been labelled as of no type status. [This specimen, which bears Lieftinck’s label ‘ Amegilla e. elegans F. Sm. dt. M.A. Lieftinck ‘60’ had been crudely dissected and the uncleared concealed sterna and genitalia placed in a gelatine capsule; the metasoma had been broken off and crudely reattached to the propodeum. Details are now figured: Fig. 23a.]

The UMO ♀ (b), ‘ Key I. ’, is now designated as LECTOTYPE, owing to its better condition, and has been labelled accordingly; the other two ♀♀ have been labelled as paralectotypes. Lieftinck’s labelling of (a) as holotype was neither correct nor validated by publication”.

As Baker’s own lectotype designation was also never validated by publication, and so we hereby designate the specimen he selected as the lectotype. This group of species (subgenus Zonamegilla Popov, 1950 ) has never been properly revised in Southeast Asia, and hence the range of A. elegans is subject to change following revisionary taxonomy (e.g., clarifying Lieftinck’s unpublished concepts).

Current status

Amegilla ( Zonamegilla) elegans ( Smith, 1859) ( Brooks 1988) .

Distribution

Indonesia ( Maluku: Kai and Ambon islands) ( Smith 1859, 1860b; Ascher & Pickering 2024).

Species described by Smith (1860a) from Sulawesi