Augochlora daphnis Smith, 1853: 77
Odontochlora amphitrite Schrottky, 1909: 142
Odontochlora styx Schrottky 1909: 143
Odontochlora thebe Schrottky 1909: 143
Odontochlora lethe Schrottky 1909: 144
Odontochlora dolichocephala Moure, 1941: 43
A revision of the bee genus Augochlora Smith (Hymenoptera; Apoidea) in Southern South America
Lepeco, Anderson
Gonçalves, Rodrigo Barbosa
Zootaxa
2020
2020-12-24
4897
1
1
97
JQ2Y
Smith, 1853
Smith. A
1853
[151,724,151,178]
Insecta
Halictidae
Augochlora
Animalia
Hymenoptera
28
29
Arthropoda
species
daphnis
Augochlora
( Figures 1B; 13A–D; 14A–D; 51A)
Augochlora daphnis Smith, 1853: 77, holotype³ (BMNH) from Uruguay, Montevideo. Examinedthrough photographs. Odontochlora amphitrite Schrottky, 1909: 142, syntypes ♀³ (whereabouts unknown) from Argentina, Buenos Aires. Newsynonym. Odontochlora styx Schrottky 1909: 143, syntypes ♀(whereabouts unknown) from Paraguay, Alto Paraná, Puerto Bertoni. New synonym. Odontochlora thebe Schrottky 1909: 143, holotype³ (whereabouts unknown) from Argentina, Buenos Aires. Newsynonym. Odontochlora lethe Schrottky 1909: 144, syntypes³ (whereabouts unknown) from Paraguay, Alto Paraná, Puerto Bertoni. New synonym. Odontochlora dolichocephala Moure, 1941: 43, holotype ♀(DZUP) from Brazil, São Paulo, Rio Claro. Examined. Newsynonym.
Diagnosis.Among the species bearing well-marked medial furrow on scutellum and an angulation separating the anterior and posterior surfaces on hind coxa ventrally, females of A. daphnisare the only in the studied area with swollen distal part of adductor ridge and black or entirely blue morphs. From A. braziliensis,females can be separated by the larger and contiguous punctures on lower paraocular area, well developed spiniform projection on S1 and abundant dark setae on the legs; males are diagnosed by the presence of larger punctures on S1 and S2 and preepisternum contiguously punctate. Additional characteristics are legs usually darker, near to black, and metasomal terga with apical black bands.
Comments.Comparing the original species descriptions, the redescription of O. amphitriteby Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina (2011), the images of Augochlora daphnistype and the examined material we concluded that there were no consistent characters supporting the hypothesis that O. amphitriteand A. daphniscorrespond to distinct species. The same interpretation was given by the personal annotations taken by Father J. S. Moure when examining the type of A. daphnisduring his visit to BMNH. We examined photographs of the holotypeand more than 115 malespecimens to conclude that the yellowish tegula cited by Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina (2011)along with other characteristics only represents intraspecific variation. Furthermore, no other similar species has been recorded in Uruguay, A. daphnistype locality. Thus, even A. amphitritebeing a very common name in literature, we conclude that it is mandatory to synonymize this name under A. daphnis. Father J. S. Moure’s O. dolichocephalatype corresponds to a bluish specimen with a slightly narrowed head but falling in A. daphnismorphological variation space. Odontochlora styx, O. letheand O. thebewere already considered as junior synonyms with O. amphitriteby previous authors ( Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina 2011; Lepeco & Gonçalves 2018). For species redescription and more comments on type material see Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina (2011). Nest structure and life-history were studied by Sakagami & Moure (1967)and Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina (2012, 2018a), diet preferences by Dalmazzo & Vossler (2015a; 2015b), and morphological variation by Lepeco & Gonçalves (2018). A gynandromorph specimen was described by Alvarez et al.(2014). Color and structural variation in this species were already noted by Dalmazzo & Roig-Alsina (2011)and by Lepeco & Gonçalves (2018), certainly being the reason why C. Schrottky described the species four times in the same paper. This may be the unluckiest species of the genus, since the type series of four species names were probably lost in a Paraguayan civil war ( Rasmussen et al.2009) and the holotypeof A. daphnishad its head replaced by a glued Augochloropsishead (Dalmazzo & Roig-Asina 2011).
Distribution.This is a very common species in southern South America, occurring in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and S„o Paulo. In Argentinathe species is recorded in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Chaco, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, Misiones, San Luís, and Santa Fé. Augochlora daphnisis also recorded in Paraguayand Uruguay.
3009686322
[364,529,255,280]
BMNH
Uruguay
Examined
28
29
1
Montevideo
holotype
3009686310
[417,636,286,310]
Argentina
New
28
29
1
1
Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires
syntype
3009686325
[345,554,348,372]
Paraguay
Alto Parana
28
29
1
1
Alto Parana
syntype
3009686329
[361,570,409,433]
Argentina
New
28
29
1
Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires
holotype
3009686337
[354,561,440,464]
Paraguay
Alto Parana
28
29
1
Alto Parana
syntype
3009686345
[464,637,501,525]
DZUP
Brazil
Rio Claro. Examined. New
28
29
1
1
Sao Paulo
holotype