Paratetrapedia connexa, (VACHAL, 1909)

Aguiar, Antonio J. C. & Melo, Gabriel A. R., 2011, Revision and phylogeny of the bee genus Paratetrapedia Moure, with description of a new genus from the Andean Cordillera (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Tapinotaspidini), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 162 (2), pp. 351-442 : 373-374

PARATETRAPEDIA CONNEXA ( VACHAL, 1909)

( FIGS 1, 3, 5 , 12, 13, 14 , 35 , 67, 86, 117, 149, 150 )

Tetrapedia connexa Vachal, 1909: 30 ; holotype male,

Bolivia: La Paz, Ampere (MNHP, examined).

Chalepogenus hypoleucus Cockerell, 1923a: 449 ; holotype female, Guyana: Pomeroon-Supenaam, Issororo (BMNH, examined).

Tetrapedia mayarum Cockerell, 1912a: 30 ; holotype male, Guatemala, Izabal, Quirigua (AMNH, examined).

Chalepogenus mayarum ; Cockerell, 1914: 320. Lutz & Cockerell, 1920: 562. Cockerell, 1942: 562.

Chalepogenus hypoleucus ; Michener, 1942: 281.

Tetrapedia mayarum ; Cockerell, 1946: 204.

Paratetrapedia lugubris ; Michener, 1954: 115, figs 68–70 (erroneous identification of P. connexa , suggested by drawings of male genitalia).

Paratetrapedia connexa ; Aguiar, 2007: 622.

Comments and diagnosis: Paratetrapedia connexa is very similar to P. lugubris in pattern of colour, pubescence, and integument sculpture. The distribution of hairs on sterna of the males is identical to that of P. lugubris except for the apex of S6 weakly sinuous with small rows of short hairs ( Fig. 15 ). Paratetrapedia connexa differs from P. lugubris mainly in the omaular carina, which occupies more than the upper half of the mesepisternum. The female of P. connexa also differs from P. lugubris by completely black terga, without yellow marks laterally.

Variation: Paratetrapedia connexa exhibits colour variation in wing membrane, sterna of male, and pubescence of hind leg. Most of the specimens examined from the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais ( Brazil) have wing membrane yellow hyaline with microtrichia dark brown on apical portion. The specimens from the states of Paraíba and Pernambuco ( Brazil), Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama have the wing membrane black infumate. Specimens from other regions have intermediate pattern of colour of wing membrane, between yellow hyaline and black infumate. A few specimens have the setae on the first labial palpal segment not curved. The pubescence on the hind leg can vary between completely black to pale yellow. Most of the male specimens examined have sterna completely black with small yellow marks laterally. Some specimens from Rondônia ( Brazil) have S4–S6 completely yellow. Some specimens from the south-western Amazon basin are smaller than the majority of specimens studied.

Male. Body length: 7.8–11.5; maximum head width: 2.7–3.4; wing length (including tegula): 8.1–11.2. Female. Body length: 8.9–9.2; maximum head width: 3.0–3.7; fore wing length (including tegula): 8.0–9.4.

Distribution: Bolivia; Brazil: Amazonas, Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins; Costa Rica; Ecuador; Guatemala; Guyana; French Guiana; Panama; Peru ( Fig. 67).

Type material: Tetrapedia connexa Vachal ; holotype (MNHP): ‘ Bolivia \ Mapiri’ ‘ ♂ ’ ‘Holotype’ ‘ Tetrap.\ connexa \ Vach.’ ‘Museum Paris\ Coll. J. Vachal 1911’ ‘ Tetrapedia \ connexa \ Vachal’.

Chalepogenus hypoleucus Cockerell ; holotype (BMNH): ‘Type’ ‘B.M. Type’\ Hym.\ 17.B.881’ ‘ Chalepogenus \ hypoleucus \ Ckll. Type’ ‘Issororo\ N.W.D.\ B. Guiana \ June 1915 ’ ‘Press. by\ Imp. Bur. Ent.\ Brit. Mus.\ 1923-21’ ‘G.E. Brodkin\ Collector’.

Tetrapedia mayarum Cockerell ; holotype (AMNH): ‘Quirigua\ Guatemala \ (W.P. Ckll.)’ ‘ Tetralonia pedia \ mayarum \ Ckll. Type’ ‘Ac 33583’.

Additional material: See Appendix.

Figures

Figures 1–5. Fig. 1. Paratetrapedia connexa, female: labial palpi; scale bar = 0.2 mm. Fig. 2. Paratetrapedia fervida, female: mesoscutum pubescence; scale bar = 0.05 mm. Figs 3–5. Paratetrapedia connexa, female; 3: outer surface of fore basitarsus, showing the hair comb for oil gathering; 4: detail of setae on second tarsomere, with the two distinct stout, hook-like setae; scale bar = 0.2 mm; 5: mesepisternum, in lateral view, with acute carina on omaulus; scale bar = 0.5 mm.

Figures 12–17. Figs 12–14. Paratetrapedia connexa, female; 12: vertical surface of terga 1 (T1) with distinct short pubescence composed of dense microsetae; 13: detail of microsetae on T1; scale bar = 0.2 mm; 14: microreticulate lines on disc of T3; scale bar = 0.05 mm. Fig. 15. Sterna 2–6 (S2–S6), Paratetrapedia connexa, male; scale bar = 0.5 mm. Fig. 16: Paratetrapedia leucostoma, male, lateral view of S6; scale bar = 0.2 mm. Fig. 17: Paratetrapedia fervida, male, ventral view of metasoma, with concave area of S3 covered by dense short plumose pubescence; scale bar = 0.5 mm.

Figures 34–41. Figs 34–36. Basitibial plate, female; 34: Tropidopedia nigrita; 35: Paratetrapedia connexa; 36: Lophopedia pygmaea; scale bar = 0.25 mm. Fig. 37. Basitibial plate, male, Paratetrapedia testacea; scale bar = 0.25 mm. Figs 38– 41. Pygidial plate, female; 38: T. nigrita; 39: Arhysoceble dichroopoda; 40: L. pygmaea; 41: Paratetrapedia fervida; scale bar = 0.2 mm.

Figures 147–158. Male genital capsule, ventral and dorsal views; 147–148: Paratetrapedia lugubris (Brazil, Rondônia, Vilhena); 149–150: Paratetrapedia connexa (Guatemala); 151–152: Paratetrapedia hyalinata sp. nov. (Brazil, Pará); 153–154: Paratetrapedia volatilis (Brazil, Paraná, Piraquara); 155–156: Paratetrapedia flavescens sp. nov. (Mexico, San Luis Potosi, Xilitla); 157–158: Paratetrapedia moesta (Mexico, Jalisco, San Patricio); scale bars = 0.1 mm. Abbreviations: beg, expansion on basal portion of gonostylus; ea, expansion of apodeme of gonapophyses; lbg, lamellate inner lobe of gonapophyses; lg, inner lamella of gonapophyses.