64. Nomia clavata Smith, 1862

Fig. 62

Nomia clavata Smith, 1862: 59, ♂.

Type material examined

Holotype

INDONESIA • ♂; Gil. [Gilolo]; [probably 2 Oct.–5 Nov. 1860]; OUMNH, ENT-HYME2474.

Type locality

Gilolo [= Halmahera].

Notes

Baker (1993: 222) wrote the following:

“Of three ♂♂ standing as clavata in the UMO type collection, two, one labelled ‘M’ [Morty] and ‘ Nomia clavata . Smith’, the other ‘Morty Isl.’, evidently the basis of Smith’s 1865 record, are of no type status and have been labelled accordingly. The third, labelled ‘Gil.’ [Gilolo] and ‘ Nomia clavata Smith’, is the HOLOTYPE of clavata and has so been labelled.

Wallace’s three ♂♂ are conspecific. They belong to a widely distributed [southern India and Nepal eastwards to the Philippines and New Guinea] species for which the earliest available name is probably Lipotriches modesta (Smith, 1862), q.v., 5.15-2. In the ♂, the nature of the specialized pubescence of sterna 3-5 and the structural peculiarities of sterna 5 and 6 are diagnostic. L. pulchriventris belongs to a rather numerous group of small, slender forms, with, in the ♂, a more or less elongate, subclavate metasoma. Other oriental species include, e.g.. ceratina (Smith, 1857), basalis (Smith, 1857), elongatula (Cockerell, 1915) and yasumatsui (Hirashima, 1961): all comb. nov. in Lipotriches ”.

Baker placed N. clavata in combination with Lipotriches, this name becoming a junior secondary homonym of L. clavata (Smith, 1853) (described as Halictus clavatus from Sierre Leone). The name Nomia wallacei Cockerell, 1939 was proposed as a replacement name, but as Baker placed N. clavata in synonymy with L. pulchriventris Cameron, 1897, this replacement name is relegated to a junior synonym. Pauly (2009) repeated Baker’s synonymy, thus becoming its first publisher.

As for the date of collection, Wallace visited Halmahera twice in 1858 (1 Feb.–1 Mar. 1858 and 14 Sep.– 1 Oct. 1858; Wallace 1869) and again in 1860. Since Smith (1860b) described X. coronata from Kajoa based on material collected in 1858 (see Section 62) before later reporting it from Halmahera (Smith 1862), it is likely that all Halmahera material reported in Smith (1862) is based on the 2 Oct.–5 Nov. 1860 visit to this island.

Current status

Lipotriches (Rhopalomelissa) pulchriventris (Cameron, 1897) (Pauly 2009) .

Distribution

India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, North Maluku), New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Australia (Queensland) (Pauly 2009).