Andrena (Pallandrena) zagrosa, 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 : 483-485

Andrena (Pallandrena) zagrosa spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:898EB986-642E-4233-930D-9AB828B76E42

HOLOTYPE: IRAN: Fars province, Yasuj, Sarb-e Taveh [30.545 oN, 51.610 oE], 2030 m, 4.v.2016, 1³, leg. M. Kafka ( OÖLM).

PARATYPES: IRAN: Same as holotype, 1♀ ( OÖLM) , 1♀ ( TJWC) ; Ilam province, Abda Man, Dinar Gaouh , 1830 m, 12.v.2016, 1♀, leg. M. Kafka ( OÖLM) .

Description: Female: Body length 11 mm ( Figure 107 ). Head: Black, 1.3 times wider than long ( Figure 108 ). Clypeus evenly arched, underlying surface strongly shagreened, dull, shallowly and irregularly punctate, punctures disappearing unto underlying shagreenation and obscured by irregular transverse microcarinae. Process of labrum trapezoidal with shallow median ‘v’ shaped emargination. Gena moderately broad, equalling width of compound eye; ocelloccipital distance 1.8 times width of lateral ocellus. Fovea moderately wide, occupying just under half of area between compound eye and lateral ocellus, not separated from inner margin of compound eye. Gena, vertex, face, and scape with long whitish hairs, not exceeding length of scape. Antenna dark, A6–12 slightly lightened grey-brown below, A3 equals A4+5+6. Frons strongly striate with raised longitudinal carinae, extending beyond lateral ocelli and occupying area immediately behind ocellar triangle but not quite reaching edge of vertex. Mesosoma: Scutum shagreened in anterior third, dull, remaining areas less strongly shagreened, therefore weakly shining, densely and evenly punctate, punctures separated by 0.5 puncture diameters ( Figure 109 ). Scutellum evenly shagreened, dull, densely and shallowly punctate, punctures separated by 0.5 puncture diameters. Pronotum rounded, without humeral angle. Episternum and propodeum finely rugose, underlying surface finely microreticulate and weakly shining, propodeal triangle poorly marked by change in surface sculpture, internal surface weakly rugose with strong central longitudinal carina. Scutum and scutellum with short and very sparse whitish hairs, episternum and propodeum with longer whitish hairs, not exceeding length of scape. Legs dark, apical tarsal segments lightened brown, pubescence whitish, hind legs with fine and plumose floccus and femoral and tibial scopa, ventral hairs of tibial scopa greatly exceeding dorsal hairs in length, scopal hairs silver-white ( Figure 110 ). Wings hyaline, venation and stigma dark brown, nervulus interstitial. Metasoma: Terga dark with variable red markings, red form with scopa, 111. female terga (Fars province), 112. female terga (Ilam province), 113. female propodeal triangle. Andrena christineae Dubitzky, 2006 ; 114. female propodeal triangle.

T1–3 with all but central part of disc red marked ( Figure 111 ), dark form with red markings restricted to lateral parts of T1–3 ( Figure 112 ). Tergal margins broad, occupying ¼ to ½ tergal disc, yellow-hyaline, very slightly depressed laterally. Tergal discs finely and evenly punctate, punctures separated by 1–1.5 puncture diameters, extending onto majority of apical margins; underlying surface of tergal discs smooth and shiny. Apical fringe of T5 and hairs flanking pygidial plate golden to brown; pygidial plate flat with slightly upturned margins, centrally with fine, honeycomb-like network pattern.

Male: Body length 10 mm ( Figure 115 ). Head: Black, 1.3 times wider than long ( Figure 116 ). Clypeus evenly arched, shagreened, dull, densely and shallowly punctate, punctures separated by 0.5 puncture diameter, puncture margins coalescing to form slightly raised transverse carinae. Process of labrum trapezoidal, shallowly medially emarginate. Gena broad, slightly exceeding width of compound eye, vertex broad; ocelloccipital distance 2.5 times width of lateral ocellus ( Figure 117 ). Gena, vertex, face, and scape with long whitish hairs, not exceeding length of scape. Antenna dark, A6–13 slightly lightened grey-brown below, A3 exceeds A4+5, shorter than A4+5+6. Frons striations as in female. Mesosoma: As in female. Metasoma: Terga dark, with apical hyaline margin occupying 2/5 th of dorsal area ( Figure 118 ). Terga evenly punctate, punctures separated by 2 puncture diameters, underlying surface smooth and shiny. S8 strap-shaped, deeply emarginate apically forming a ‘v’, densely covered with short pale hairs on ventral surface. Genital capsule long ( Figure 119 ), gonocoxae without teeth, gonostyli apically produced into scoops, internal face concave. Penis valve grossly broadened, bladder-like, equalling width of gonostyli, apically produced into sharp point ( Figure 120 ).

Diagnosis: As for A. persica , female A. zagrosa can be swiftly recognised by the emarginate process of the labrum, the non-carinate hind femur, and the distinctive scopal hairs. Male material is harder to diagnose without examination of the genitalia which are large, with an elongate capsule and comparatively long, toothless gonocoxae. Two Pallandrena species with red-marked terga have been described: A. christineae Dubitzky, 2006 and A. scheuchli Dubitzky, 2006 . Andrena zagrosa female material can be easily separated from A. scheuchli because the former species has a vertex and scutum are dull, not shiny; the male of A. scheuchli is unknown. Differences from A. christineae (alternative character state in parentheses) in the female sex are more subtle and ideally require comparative material, but can be separated using the following characters: T2–4 without basal lateral depression, dorsolateral convexity evenly flattened (T2–4 with basal depression that extends laterally across the terga, dorsolateral convexity swollen), propodeal triangle with clear central longitudinal carina ( Figure 113 ) that is more pronounced than the surrounding rugae (propodeal tringle finely wrinkled, without a clearly distinct and longitudinal carina, Figure 114 ), scutum comparatively weakly shagreened, weakly shining (scutum comparatively more strongly shagreened, dull). Male material is much more easily separated, as the genitalia are conspicuously different, with the penis valve of A. zagrosa conspicuously and grossly widened, almost exceeding the width of the gonostyli ( Figure 116 ), whereas in A. christineae the penis valve is only slightly broadened, therefore comparatively parallel-sided (see illustrations in Wood et al. 2020b).

Discussion: As for A. persica , A. zagrosa fits the typical Pallandrena pattern of being found at high altitude in the Middle Eastern region. Given the vast and underexplored mountain chains of Central Asia, there may yet be many more undetected species of Pallandrena present in these regions.

Etymology: This name is derived from the Zagros mountains that include the locus typicus.

Other material examined ( Andrena christineae ): LEBANON: N Lebanon, Arz Bcharre Forest of the Cedars of God Reforestation Area, 1933 m, 18.iv.2018, 1♀, leg. M. Boustani, TJWC , Geranium libanoticum ; Arz Bcharre , Forest of the Cedars of God, Forest Limit, 1897 m, 20.v.2019, 1³, leg. M. Boustani, OÖLM .

Figures

FIGURES 107–114. Andrena zagrosa spec. nov. 107. female profile, 108. female face, 109. female scutum, 110. female tibial

FIGURES 115–120. Andrena zagrosa spec. nov. 115. male profile, 116. male face, 117. male scutum, 118. male terga, 119. male genitalia, 120. male genitalia detail.