Monoeca pulchella Torretta & Roig-Alsina, 2016

Torretta, Juan Pablo & Roig-Alsina, Arturo, 2016, First report of Monoeca in Argentina, with description of two new species (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Journal of Melittology 2016 (59), pp. 1-12 : 2-6

Monoeca pulchella Torretta & Roig-Alsina , new species

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:D7D566C1-FA7C-4E50-A8EF-587A157D417D

( Figs. 1, 2 , 9 , 12, 13 , 17, 18 )

DIAGNOSIS: The female of M. pulchella runs to M. campestris Aguiar in the key to Brazilian species of Monoeca by Aguiar (2012), due to the bicolored integument, the extended yellowish brown vestiture, the size, and the polished, impunctate first tergum. The only two species of Monoeca not occurring in Brazil are the Mexican and Central American M. mexicana (Radoszkowsky) and M. pyropyga (Friese) . From the former the new species can be separated by the pilosity of T 2– T 4 which is short and sparse in M. mexicana but forming conspicuos apical bands of long hairs in M. pulchella . From M. pyropyga the new species differs by the lack of fulvous pilosity on T 4– T 6 and the labrum. The male seventh sternum and the genitalia readily separate M. pulchella from M. campestris . The S7 has the two apical points free for one third of the length of the disc of the sternum ( Fig. 17 ), and their apices are stout and truncate, while in M. campestris the free apical points are 0.12x as long as the disc, and are pointed. The dorsal lobe of the gonocoxite is enormous, as long as the distance between its base to the base of the gonocoxite ( Fig. 13 ), while in M. campestris the dorsal lobe is slenderer and smaller, approximately one third of the distance between its base to the base of the gonocoxite. Both species show consistent differences in the shape of the sterna and the genital capsule. According to Aguiar (2012), M. campestris is restricted to the Cerrado savannas, while M. pulchella occurs in the Paranaense forest of northeastern Argentina.

DESCRIPTION: Holotype ♂: Total body length: 8.0 mm; maximum head width: 2.1 mm; forewing length (including tegula): 7.2 mm. Integument dark brown ( Fig. 1 ) except apical half of mandible and flagellum brownish orange. Legs brownish orange. Tegulae brownish orange, wing membrane brown, veins and stigma brownish orange. Spurs of fore and mid-tibiae brown, of hind tibia black. Terga mostly dark brown, T2 – T4 with translucent apices, sterna brown. Labrum with plumose brown hairs. Clypeus with simple, long (2x DF) hairs on disc, lateral areas with decumbent, plumose, white hairs. Paraocular area and frons with erect, plumose, white hairs. Vertex with erect, plumose (1x DF), brownish hairs. Gena with adpressed, short, white hairs intermingled with plumose white and brown hairs. Pubescence of pronotum, scutum, scutellum, propodeum, and metanotum brown. Mesopleuron with long (2x DF), plumose, brown hairs. Legs with brown hairs, mixed with white hairs on tarsi of mid-legs, on apex of tibia, and on tarsi of hind legs ( Fig. 9 ). T1 mostly glabrous, with few whitish hairs laterally and whitout marginal band of decumbent hairs. Disc of T2 – T5 with short, decumbent whitish hairs; apical margin of T2 – T5 with band (wider on center) of decumbent, long, whitish hairs, those on T2 shorter medially; on lateral areas with intermixed whitish and brown hairs. T6 and T7 at sides of pygidial plate with long brown hairs. S2–S5 with dense bands of plumose hairs intermixed with simple, longer hairs ( Fig. 2 ). Punctures coarse and dense on disc of clypeus (1 pd) and on frons (0.3 pd). Apical band of clypeus impunctate, shiny. Supraclypeal area with scattered punctures medially. Paraocular area with very sparse, fine punctures (>4 pd). Scutum , scutellum, and mesopleuron with coarse and dense punctures (1 pd). Lateral surface of propodeum with sparse fine punctures, and metaposnotum shiny, with few punctures. T1 with anterior vertical surface with very sparse punctures (>5 pd). T2 – T4 covered with dense (1.5–2 pd), fine punctures. T5 and T6 with punctures sparser and coarser than those of T2 – T4 . Head wider than long (1.00:0.81). Eye with inner orbits slightly sinuate and convergent below. Proportion of scape, pedicel, and first three flagellomeres 2.55:0.81:1.00:0.77:0.79. Labrum wider than long. Clypeus slightly protuberant (0.30x width of eye). Supraclypeal area elevated. Median sulcus (2.0x DF) present on upper frons, reaching median ocellus. Pronotal lobe rounded in frontal view. Dorsolateral angle of pronotum flattened but not carinate. Scutellum with weak longitudinal carina. Apex of hind basitarsus without apical tooth. S7, S8, and genitalia as in figures 12, 13, 17, and 18.

♀: Total body length: 9.0– 10.1 mm; maximum head width: 3.1–3.5 mm; forewing length (including tegula): 7.4–8.6 mm (n=5). Integument bicolored. Head black except median mark in mandible, apical margin of clypeus, and flagellum orange. Mesosoma black except pronotal lobe, upper half of mesopleuron, metapleuron, and lateral part of propodeum yellowish brown (some paratypes with yellowish brown reduced to pronotal lobe and hypoepimeral area, and upper part of metapleuron and anterior lateral part of propodeum dark brownish). Tegulae yellowish brown. Wing membrane yellowish brown, veins and stigma yellowish brown. Legs dark brown except orange dorsal surface of mid- and hind coxae (some paratypes with legs entirely dark, and other paratypes with legs almost entirely orange except dark tarsus and anterior surface of tibia of fore and mid-legs). Spurs of tibiae dark brown. Some paratypes with metasoma entirely dark brown, others with metasoma mostly black except orange anterior and lateral portions of T1 , and lateral portions of S1, and two paratypes with orange extended to disc of T2 . Vestiture mostly black on head. Labrum with decumbent, plumose, black hairs (1x DF) intermixed with longer black unbranched hairs (1.5x DF). Clypeus with decumbent black hairs, mixed with sparse longer unbranched hairs (1x DF) and plumose whitish hairs in lateral areas. Paraocular areas and frons with numerous long (2.5–3x DF) white hairs intermixed with shorter (1–1.5x DF), plumose, black hairs; along inner margin of eye with row of thick hairs with short one-sided branches. Scape with very short (0.2x DF) black hairs. Vertex with erect (1–1.5x DF), plumose, black hairs. Gena with adpressed white hairs intermingled with long (1–1.5x DF) plumose, black hairs. Pubescence on pronotum, scutum, scutellum, metanotum, and propodeum abundant, plumose (1–1.5x DF), yellowish brown. Metapostnotum with scattered plumose orange hairs. Mesopleuron with plumose, yellowish brown hairs on upper two thirds, and with hooked, pale yellow, unbranched hairs on lateral lower third (1–1.5x DF) and ventral area (0.3–0.7x DF). Legs mostly with black hairs, but with some plumose white hairs on basal area of mid-basitarsus and white scopal hairs on apex of hind tibia and base of basitarsus. Coxae , trochanters, and basoventral area of femora with few hooked setae. T1 mostly glabrous, with few long plumose orange hairs on lateral portions and without marginal band of decumbent hairs. Basal half of T2 – T4 with short, decumbent hairs and marginal band (wider on center) of decumbent, plumose, long, golden hairs; adpressed white hairs on lateral areas. T5 with decumbent and erect plumose black hairs, intermingled with simple, longer, black hairs. T6 with plumose black hairs (shorter than those on T5 ) surrounding pygidial plate. S2–S4 with long (1.5–2x DF), pale yellow, hooked setae. S5 with decumbent, white hairs and few shorter, pale, hooked setae, and marginal band of longer, plumose, white and black mixed hairs. S6 covered with adpressed short black hairs. Sculpture similar to that of male. Head wider than long (1.00:0.75). Eye with inner orbit slightly sinuate and convergent below. Proportion of scape, pedicel, and first three flagellomeres 2.35:0.64:1.00:0.47:0.64. Labrum wider than long (1.00:0.62). Clypeus protuberant (0.38x width of eye). Supraclypeal area elevated, with weak longitudinal carina (2x DF) on interantennal area. Median sulcus (2x DF) on upper frons. Pronotal lobe rounded in frontal view. Scutellum with weak longitudinal carina. Apex of posterior surface of hind femur with longitudinal, strong, and short (1.5–2.0x DF) carina. T6 without wax-extruding area at base.

HOLOTYPE: ♂, ARGENTINA, Misiones, Puerto Bemberg , 7-XII-1933, col. K. Hayward ( MACN).

PARATYPES: ARGENTINA: Misiones: 1♀, San Ignacio, Parque Provincial Teyú Cuaré , 5-XII-2012, col. J.P. Torretta (on flowers of Heteropterys intermedia ) ( MACN) ; 1♀, San Ignacio , 30-XI-2015, col. J.P. Torretta (on flowers of Heteropterys intermedia ) ( MLP) ; 5♀♀, Montecarlo , 29-XI-2014, col. J.P. Torretta, N. Gomiz & S.S. Aliscioni (on flowers of Heteropterys intermedia ) ( FAUBA, MACN, IFML) . Corrientes: 2♀♀, Corrientes, Camping El 15, 15-XII-2015, col. A. Ávalos & J.P. Torretta (on flowers of Heteropterys intermedia ) ( FAUBA, MACN) ; 1♂, Corrientes, Camping El 15, 15-XII-2015, col. A. Ávalos & J.P. Torretta (on flowers of Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich.) Vahl ) ( FAUBA) ; 1♀, San Martín, Yapeyú , 3-XII-2012, col. J.P. Torretta (on flowers of Heteropterys argyrophaea A.Juss. ) ( MACN) .

ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet is derived from the Latin, and refers to the beauty of this species.

COMMENTS: This species is variable regarding the color of the integument. Some specimens have more extended orange coloration on the legs, the propodeum, and the first and second metasomal terga, while in others the orange color is restricted to T 1.

SCOPAL POLLEN LOADS: In all females in which pollen scopal loads were analyzed (n=4), the loads contained 100% of pollen of the plant where each female was captured. A single female of M. pulchella had pollen of H. argyrophaea while all other specimens had pollen of H. intermedia .

Figures

Figures 1–4. Males of Monoeca Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville from Argentina. 1. Dorsal view of mesosoma of Monoeca pulchella, new species, holotype. 2. Ventral view of metasoma of M. pulchella, holotype. 3. Dorsal view of mesosoma of M. armata, new species, paratype from Bernardo de Irigoyen, Misiones. 4. Ventral view of metasoma of M. armata, same paratype as in figure 3.

Figures 5–9. Mesosomal and leg structures of species of Monoeca Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville from Argentina. 5. Female mesosoma of Monoeca armata, new species, anterior view showing pointed pronotal lobe and carinate dorsolateral angle of pronotum. 6. Female hind femur and tibia of M. armata, showing inner apical carina of femur (c). 7. Male hind tarsus of M. armata, showing apical tooth-like projection (t) of basitarsus. 8. Outer view of male hind tibia and tarsus of M. armata. 9. Outer view of male hind tibia and tarsus of M. pulchella, new species.

Figures 10–13. Male genitalia of species of Monoeca Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville from Argentina (scale bars = 0.2 mm). 10. Ventral view, Monoeca armata, new species, holotype. 11. Dorsal view, M. armata. 12. Ventral view, M. pulchella, new species, holotype. 13. Dorsal view, M. pulchella.

Figures 14–18. Hidden sterna of species of Monoeca Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville from Argentina (scale bars = 0.2 mm). 14. Ventral view of S7 of Monoeca armata, new species, holotype. 15. Lateral view of S7 of M. armata. 16. Ventral view of S8 of M. armata. 17. Ventral view of S7 of M. pulchella, new species, holotype. 18. Ventral view of S8 of M. pulchella, with disc largely damaged.