Cretotrigona, ENGEL, 2000

ENGEL, MICHAEL S., 2000, A New Interpretation of the Oldest Fossil Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae), American Museum Novitates 3296, pp. 1-12 : 3

Cretotrigona , new genus

TYPE SPECIES: Trigona (Trigona) prisca Michener and Grimaldi, 1988a .

DIAGNOSIS: The new genus is very similar to Trigona as is evidenced by the presence of a basal sericeous area on the inner surface of the metabasitarsus (see also Discussion, below), the broadly depressed posterior marginal area on the inner surface of the metatibia, the apical bend in vein M of the forewing at about the position where 1m-cu would be located, the bare compound eyes, and the absence of a preoccipital carina. It differs from this group by the short, tapering hairs of the rastellum (more similar to those of the African Dactylurina), the entirely simple hairs of the metatibial posterior margin [although this is similar to those of the southeast Asian Trigona (Lepidotrigona) ], and the absence of hairs on the surface of the corbicula. It is further separated from Trigona (excluding the subgenera Lepidotrigona and Papuatrigona ) by the weak and gentle slope of the keirotrichiate median zone from the posterior marginal zone on the inner surface of the metatibia. See Discussion (below) for further consideration of the fossil’s similari-