Amegilla (Zonamegilla) karlba, Leijs, Remko, Batley, Michael & Hogendoorn, Katja, 2017

Leijs, Remko, Batley, Michael & Hogendoorn, Katja, 2017, The genus Amegilla (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Anthophorini) in Australia: A revision of the subgenera Notomegilla and Zonamegilla, ZooKeys 653, pp. 79-140 : 115-119

Amegilla (Zonamegilla) karlba sp. n. Figs 10, 31, 44

Material examined.

28 females and 19 males.

Type data.

Holotype: female, 12km NNW of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.46S 132.39E, 20 Jun 1973, T. Weir & T. Angeles, MAGNT I004902.

Allotype: male, 19km NE by E of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.47S 132.51E, 16.xi.1972, T. Weir & A. Allwood, MAGNT I004897.

Paratypes: male, 16km E by N of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.8333S 132.8500E, 16.xi.1972, T. Weir & A. Allwood, MAGNT I004895; 2 females, 19km E by N of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.5000S 132.5200E, 14 Jun 1973, J.C. Cardale, ANIC 32-33723, 33725; female, male, 19km E by N of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.5000S 132.5200E, 16 Nov 1972, J.C. Cardale, ANIC 32-33757, 34386; 4 males, 19km NE by E of Mt Cahill, NT, 12.47S 132.51E, 16.xi.1972, T. Weir & A. Allwood, MAGNT I004894, I004896, I004898, I004899; female, Litchfield NP, NT, 13.1167S 130.7833E, G. Williams & W. Pulawski, AM K-290928, DNA voucher RB330.

Diagnosis.

Amegilla karlba is distinguished from other Australian Zonamegilla species by the following characters: Metasomal hair bands of both sexes yellow ochre coloured; hair on outer face of the hind tibia usually orange or brown. Basitibial hair streak on hind leg of females short; hind basitarsus less than half covered with pale hair; T5 with pale hair reaching lateral margins. S7 of males with a broad medial ridge resulting in small, lightly pigmented windows and a broad but distinct apical projection (Fig. 44).

Description.

Female: holotype.

Length 13 mm; forewing length 9 mm.

Structure. Head: clypeus protuberant, in profile 0.3 × width of eye; galea in repose reaching mid coxa; length of f1 3.1 × length of f2, 0.7 × length of scape (excluding basal bulb) and 1.6 × length of f10; f3-9 as long as wide; IOD 1.2 × OOD; OS 0.6 × OOD; length of marginal cell 0.8 × distance from apex of marginal cell to wing tip; cu-v of hind wing 2.7 × length of second abscissa of M+Cu; length of vein M of hind wing 2 × length of second abscissa of M+Cu; length of jugal lobe about 2 × length of vannal lobe. Coloration. Yellow marks on labrum, mandibles, scape, clypeus, paraocular and supraclypeal areas; inverted T-shape on clypeus; distal part of flagellum orange-brown ventrally from f2. Pubescence. Head: labrum white, remaining areas predominantly pale yellow, darker towards vertex; scattered black robust hairs on clypeus, paraocular areas, frons, near ocelli and on vertex; gena white, pale yellow towards vertex. Thorax: scutum ginger intermixed with black hair; pleura ginger under wing base, turning white ventrally; thoracic sterna pale brown; propodeum laterally ginger with scattered black hairs. Legs: forefemur posteriorly with long white hair, outer surface of foretibia and -tarsus light brown, inner surface of tarsus brown; mid legs dark, except pale brown hair on apex of femur and outer surface of tibia, slightly darker than on foretibia, posteriorly proximal end of femur with narrow line of white hair, apex of tibia with brown spot, basitarsus white basally; hind legs black, except pale brown hair on apex of femur and outer surface of tibia, a patch of pale brown hair on base of basitarsus, small white tuft on apex of tibia; basitibial streak brown, 0.25 × length of femur. Metasoma: apical hair bands on T1-T4 yellow ochre with orange and weak light blue iridescence; T5 laterally with moderately dense white hairs, fimbria brown; T5 entirely covered with open pale yellow ochre hairs, a denser longitudinal line extends into fimbria (Fig. 31); S3, S4 dark, posterolateral patches of pale yellow hairs; S5 dark. Punctation. Head: clypeus with dense to close, medium sized, deep punctures, 0.2-0.7 puncture widths apart; labrum somewhat shiny, with close to dense, small, deep punctures, 0.1-0.5 puncture widths apart. Thorax: scutum shiny, with close punctures, 0.2-1.5 puncture widths apart. Metasoma: T1-T5 with close punctures 0.2-0.8, puncture widths apart.

Male: allotype.

Length 11 mm; forewing length 8 mm.

Structure. Head: shortest distance between eyes 0.7 × length of eye; clypeus protuberant, in profile 0.6 × width of eye; galea in repose reaching mid coxa; length of f1 1.8 × length of f2, 0.5 × length of scape (excluding basal bulb) and 0.9 × length of f11; length of f3-10 1.3 × width; IOD 1.4 × OOD; OS 0.7 × OOD. Wings: length of marginal cell 0.8 × distance from apex of marginal cell to wing tip; length of vein M of hind wing 2.2 × length of second abscissa of M+Cu; length of jugal lobe about 0.4 × length of vannal lobe. Metasoma: apicomedial emargination of S5 very shallow, moderately wide; S7 with very broad medial ridge leaving small, lightly pigmented windows, apical projection very broad, but distinct and not truncate, hair pattern almost inverted T-shaped (Fig. 44); S8 apical emargination deep. Pubescence. Head: labrum white, remaining areas predominantly pale yellow, darker towards vertex; scattered black robust hairs on clypeus, paraocular areas, frons, near ocelli and on vertex; gena white, pale yellow towards the vertex. Thorax: scutum ginger intermixed with black hair; pleura ginger under wing base, becoming white ventrally; propodeum laterally ginger with scattered black hairs. Legs: forefemur posteriorly with long white hair, outer surface of tibia and tarsus pale brown, inner surface of tarsus brown; mid legs dark, except pale brown hair on apex of femur, posteriorly on proximal end of femur and on outer surface of tibia and basitarsus; hind legs black, except ginger hair on apex of femur and outer surface of tibia, a few light ginger hairs on base of basitarsus, apex of tibia white. Metasoma: apical hair bands on T1-T5 yellow ochre with orange and weak light blue iridescence; T6 yellow ochre hairs on apical margin, remaining hair black when viewed from behind, brown when viewed from the side; S2-S5 brown with narrow white lateral patches. Punctation. Head: clypeus with punctures 1.0-3.0 puncture widths apart, interspaces rough pit-reticulate; labrum with small, shallow punctures, 0.5-2.0 puncture widths apart. Thorax: scutum somewhat shiny, close to open, medium, shallow punctures 0.2-2.0 puncture widths apart. Metasoma: T1-T5 somewhat shiny, with close, fine, shallow punctures, 0.5-1.5 puncture widths apart.

Phenology.

Distribution.

Arnhem Land, Kakadu, Kimberleys (Fig. 10).

Etymology.

The specific epithet is a noun in apposition referring to the colour of the tergal hair bands ( karlba in the language of the Kuninjku people of Western Arnhemland means yellow ochre ( Evans et al. 2002)).

Remarks.

Amegilla karlba is similar to indistincta and, to a lesser extent, viridicingulata . Females may be distinguished from viridicingulata by the extent of pale hair on the hind basitarsus and from indistincta the more extensive area of white hair on T5 (Fig. 31). Hair on the hind tibia of female karlba is usually more orange than that in indistincta . Males of karlba may be distinguished by the shape of S7, differing from adelaidae and walkeri in the width of the medial ridge and from viridicingulata by the presence of an apical projection. Colour variation may make it difficult to distinguish males from those of indistincta , though the species are probably allopatric. Truncation of the apical projection of S7 may prove to be diagnostic for indistincta but examination of a greater number of specimens is needed.