Andrena (?Aciandrena) palmyriae, Wood, 2021

Wood, Thomas James, 2021, Fifteen new Andrena species from little-visited arid, Mediterranean, and mountainous parts of the Old World (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), Zootaxa 4933 (4), pp. 451-492 : 456

Andrena (?Aciandrena) palmyriae spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:5351670B-FC24-467B-9F09-FEF20BF7B27D

HOLOTYPE: SYRIA: Palmyra , 1.v.1995, 1♀, leg. K. Deneš ( OÖLM).

Description: Female: Body length 7 mm ( Figure 13 ). Head: Black, 1.3 times wider than long. Clypeus domed, irregularly punctate, punctures separated by 0.5–2 puncture diameters; longitudinal impunctate central line present, underlying surface weakly shagreened, stronger basally, becoming weaker apically. Process of labrum square, as long as broad, apical margin deeply emarginate ( Figure 14 ). Gena slightly narrower than width of compound eye; ocelloccipital distance subequal to width of lateral ocellus. Fovea moderately broad, dorsally occupying ½ of area between lateral ocellus and compound eye, slightly narrowed below to level of antennal insertions, not separated from inner margin of compound eye. Gena, vertex, face, and scape with white hairs, longest not exceeding half of length of scape. Scape dark, A2–12 almost entirely lightened orange, A3 slightly exceeds A4+5, shorter than A4+5+6. Mesosoma: Scutum and scutellum finely and regularly punctate, punctures separated by 1–1.5 puncture diameters, underlying surface completely smooth and strongly shining ( Figure 15 ). Pronotum with weak humeral angle, dorsolaterally slightly angulate, inconspicuous. Episternum and propodeum finely reticulate, weakly shining, propodeal triangle granulose, indicated by change in reticulation, slightly duller, basally with very slight short rugosity. Episternum and propodeum with moderately long white hairs, propodeal corbicula well-formed dorsally, lateral faces of propodeum regularly but sparsely haired, all hairs not exceeding length of scape. Scutum and scutellum with short, semi-squamous light brown hairs, very sparse centrally, dense along lateral margins of discs; scutum with longer, projecting white hairs, 3–4 times longer ( Figure 16 ). Legs basally dark, apexes of tibiae of first two pairs of legs, all tarsi, and hind tibiae orange, pubescence whitish, scopa white. Hind tarsal claws without inner teeth. Wings hyaline, venation and stigma orange, nervulus interstitial to slightly antefurcal. Metasoma: Terga dark, apical margins lightened yellow and broadly hyaline ( Figure 17 ), intermediate areas between discs and margins and lateral areas viewed in profile lightened reddish-brown ( Figure 16 ). Tergal discs almost impunctate, fine hair-bearing punctures sparse, predominantly found laterally, underlying surface microreticulate, weakly shining; T2–4 with long, thick white hair bands that obscure underlying surface, on T2 medially interrupted, T3–4 complete ( Figure 18 ). Apical fringe of T5 and hairs flanking pygidial plate golden; pygidial plate elongate, flattened with slightly upturned margins, centrally shining.

Male: Unknown.

Diagnosis: This species is very similar to A. badiyah spec. nov., and can be provisionally placed in the subgenus Aciandrena following the same reasoning and with the same caveated degree of confidence. It is close to A. pavonia from Algeria and Tunisia, as both species share the short semi-squamous hairs on the scutum and scutellum, orange hind tibiae, and thick white hairbands covering the tergal margins. It can be separated by the completely shiny scutum (slightly but consistently and completely shagreened in A. pavonia ), the narrow and deeply notched process of labrum (process of labrum trapezoidal, wider than long, slightly notched), and the interstitial nervulus (clearly antefurcal). As noted above, A. palmyriae can be separated from A. badiyah spec. nov. by the notched process of the labrum, the orange hind tibiae, the interstitial nervulus, the comparatively longer clypeus, and the longer and thicker tergal hairbands.

Etymology: This species is named after the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.

Figures

FIGURES 13–18. Andrena palmyriae spec. nov. 13. female profile, 14. female face, 15. female scutum, 16. female terga lateral view, 17. female terga, 18. female terga detail.