Andrena (Truncandrena) syriensis, 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 : 486-491

Andrena (Truncandrena) syriensis spec. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E653EFDF-CD62-4021-A7AD-FCE0D9AEE618

HOLOTYPE: SYRIA: Homs, 250 m, As-Shuknah, 22 km E, 24.iii.1988, 1³, leg. L. Blank ( OÖLM).

PARATYPE: SYRIA: Homs, E 20 km, 400 m, 1.iv.1988, 1³, leg. S.M. Blank ( OÖLM) .

Description: Female: Unknown.

Male: Body length 10–10.5 mm ( Figure 131 ). Head: Black, 1.2 times wider than long. Clypeus coloured yellow with exception of two lateral black marks, yellow colouration extending onto lower paraocular areas ( Figure 132 ). Clypeus regularly punctate, punctures laterally separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameter, becoming sparser centrally, here separated by 1–2 puncture diameters; underlying surface shagreened, weakly shining. Process of labrum trapezoidal, fore margin rounded emarginate. Gena equalling width of compound eye; ocelloccipital distance equalling width of lateral ocellus. Gena, vertex, face, and scape with long white hairs, not exceeding length of scape. Antenna dark, A4 apically, A5–13 lightened orange below, A3 exceeds A4, shorter than A4+5 ( Figure 133 ). Mesosoma: Scutum and scutellum consistently punctate, punctures separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameter, underlying surface shagreened, weakly shining, shagreenation becoming weaker centrally, here shining more strongly. Pronotum rounded, without humeral angle. Episternum and propodeum microreticulate, weakly shining, becoming weakly rugose on propodeum, propodeal triangle indicated by change in surface sculpture, surface finely microreticulate. Episternum, propodeum, scutum, and scutellum covered with long whitish hairs, clearly exceeding length of scape. Legs dark, apical tarsal segment and hind basitarsi lightened orange, pubescence whitish. Wings hyaline, venation and stigma orange, nervulus strongly antefurcal. Metasoma: Terga dark, apical margins narrowly lightened yellow, partly hyaline ( Figure 134 ). Tergal discs finely and regularly punctate, punctures separated by 2 puncture diameters; terga covered with loose, long whitish hairs, forming denser hairbands on apical margins of T2–4, obscuring underlying surface. Genital capsule compact, gonocoxae with short, weakly pointed teeth, these diverging widely; gonostyli with apical blades flattened, triangular, outer face weakly concave, with long plumose hairs. Penis valve broad, laterally with pair of lamellate, finger-like projections ( Figures 135–136 ).

Diagnosis: Placement of A. syriensis within a subgenus is not immediately clear. The combination of very short malar space, granulose propodeal triangle with clear dorsal area (not declivous), rounded (uncarinate) pronotum, large body size (> 8 mm), and yellow clypeus with colouration extending onto the lower paraocular area would suggest placement in the Nobandrena . However, A. syriensis lacks depressed tergal margins and the typical elongate genital capsule of Nobandrena , making Truncandrena a better fit where, though less common, yellow facial markings can extend onto the lower paraocular area, and the overall more ‘beak-like’ shape of the clypeus is a better fit, though it should be noted that the antefurcal nervulus is unusual for the Truncandrena (usually interstitial to postfurcal).

Within the Truncandrena , based on genital construction A. syriensis can be placed closest to A. rotundilabris Morawitz, 1878 ( Israel, Lebanon, Turkey) and A. ulula Warncke, 1969 ( Israel, Turkey) because of the broad penis valve that occupies most of the space between the gonostyli, and the broad apically triangular gonostyli. As well as different facial markings (both with yellow markings restricted to the clypeus), structurally A. syriensis differs in the position of the antefurcal nervulus (both with a postfurcal nervulus), the centrally weak shagreenation of the scutum (both with dull scuta, shagreenation uninform, not centrally shining), and most noticeably in the form of the gonocoxal teeth which are short, pointed, and broadly splayed laterally (pointed but only diverging weakly in A. rotundilabris , apically rounded in A. ulula ) and of the penis valve, which has laterally projecting, lamellate, fingerlike projections (absent in both other species).

Discussion: The subgenus Truncandrena has its greatest diversity in the Eastern Mediterranean, and so the presence of another undescribed species here is not surprising. The formation of the genital capsule with reduced and laterally splayed gonocoxal teeth and the lateral extensions to the penis valve has not previously been described within the Truncandrena , and the antefurcal position of the nervulus is aberrant within the subgenus. However, the Middle East is home to some remarkable Andrena diversity that does not fit well with existing subgeneric concepts and traits, even when they can be placed in subgenera at all (e.g. Pisanty et al. 2016; 2018; 2020; Wood 2020; Wood et al. 2020b). The diversity of new taxa and their morphological peculiarities described both here and elsewhere recently (Wood 2020) from arid desertic regions of Syria suggests that molecular study of this fauna could shed further light of our understanding of the evolution of this genus, given its likely East Mediterranean origin ( Pisanty et al. 2020).

Etymology: This species is named after the country of Syria.

Figures

FIGURES 131–136. Andrena syriensis spec. nov. 131. male profile, 132. male clypeus detail, 133. male antenna detail, 134. male terga, 135. male genitalia detail, 136. male genitalia detail, dorsal view, arrow indicating lateral ‘finger-like’ projections of the penis valve.