Melissoptila tandilensis Holmberg

Vivallo, Felipe, 2009, Notes on the bee genus Alloscirtetica Holmberg, 1909 in northern Chile with the description of two new altiplanic species and a key for the Chilean species of Eucerini (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Zootaxa 2010, pp. 16-30 : 24

Melissoptila tandilensis Holmberg

The male of this species, like M. paranaense Urban , M. paraguayensis (Brèthes) and M. desiderata (Holmberg) has the middle and hind legs strongly modified, which probably are used to immobilize the female before or during mating. However, it differs from these species by the presence of two longitudinal carinae, converging apically on S6, and by the width of F11, which is wider than the previous flagellomeres. The female is distinguished by the black pilosity at the base of T2 to T4 and a distal band of white pilosity (in the same terga), frequently interrupted in the middle of T2. Fore tibiae with whitish or yellowish hairs, and fore basitarsi with orange pilosity on the inner side ( Urban 1998a). Illustrations of the male genitalia, hidden sterna and other male structures were made by Urban (1968). For additional information about the taxonomical history of this species see Urban et al. (2007) and references herein.

This species is distributed from southern Brazil, central-south Argentina, to southern Chile (Region of Biobío) ( Urban et al. 2007). In Argentina this species visits: Cucurbita sp. ( Cucurbitaceae ) ( Jensen-Haarup 1908c), Baccharis sp. ( Jensen-Haarup 1908b), Baccharis marginalis var. caerulescens Heering (Jensen- Haarup 1908c), B. salicifolia (Ruiz & Pavón) , B. serrulata (Lam.) , B. pingraea DC., B. subulata Wedd. , Tessaria absinthioides DC., Cirsium lanceolatum L., Bidens leucantha Willd. , Grindelia pulchella (Corn.) , Proustia ilicifolia H. et S. ( Asteraceae ), Taraxacum officinale G. H. Weber ex Wigg. , Tagetes minutus L., T. filifolia Lag. , Tanacetum vulgare L. (Compositae), Lycium gracile L., L. elongtum longiflorum Hauman (Solanaceae) , Apodanthera scaberrima Brandegee , Cucurbita pepo L. ( Cucurbitaceae ), Verbena bonariensis L. ( Verbenaceae ), Hoffmanseggia falcaria (Fabaceae) , Phoeniculum piperitum Mout. ( Apiaceae ), Sphaeralcea bonariensis (Cav.) , Althaea officinalis L. ( Malvaceae ), Erodium cicutarium L. ( Geraniaceae ), Pharbitis hispida Choisy (Convolvulaceae) ( Jörgensen 1909, 1912), Calendula officinalis L. ( Asteraceae ) and Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) ( Jörgensen 1912). There are no floral records from Chile.