Sthenele Engel, 2022

Engel, Michael S. & Gonzalez, Victor H., 2022, A new bee genus from the pampas of eastern Argentina, with appended notes on the classification of “ paracolletines ” (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), Journal of Melittology 2022 (109), pp. 1-39 : 22

Sthenele Engel , new genus

ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0FBA3657-6B0A-441C-B493-D8AA6FFD2BBE

TYPE SPECIES: Pasiphae iheringi Schrotky, 1910 .

DIAGNOSIS: This genus, like the preceding one, agrees with Bicolletes in most characters but quite characteristically the integument of the head and mesosoma is coarsely and densely punctate, in this regard resembling the sculpturing of Mimozibyne Engel, and with the punctures virtually contiguous, rather than with distinct areas of integument between the punctures, at least on the mesosoma, in Bicolletes s.l.

ETYMOLOGY: The new genus-group name is taken from the Ancient Greek mythology where Sthenele (ΣΘενέλη, “strong one”) was one of the hypothesized mothers of Patroclus, tragic hero of the Trojan War whose death launched Achilles’ bloodlust. The gender of the name is feminine.