Euglossa piliventris Guérin-Méneville, 1844

Nemésio, André & Rasmussen, Claus, 2011, Nomenclatural issues in the orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossina) and an updated catalogue, Zootaxa 3006, pp. 1-42 : 10-11

2. Euglossa piliventris Guérin-Méneville, 1844

( Figs 5 , 6 )

Euglossa piliventris was described based on male and female specimens from the state of Pará, Brazil, in the eastern portion of the Brazilian Amazon ( Guérin-Méneville 1844). Later, Friese (1899: 136–137) mentioned he saw type specimens in “coll. Saussure” (now in Naturalis, Leiden, Netherlands), in addition to (non-type) specimens from Colombia (Bogotá, Muzo), Brazil, Suriname, Cayenne (in French Guiana) and Peru in collections he visited ( Rasmussen & Ascher 2008). Moure (1967b) mentioned “ type male and female in coll. Saussure”, attributing this information to Friese (1899). Moure (1967b) also mentioned “a paratype female seen by the author at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale (MSNG), Genova” and considered the geographic distribution of this species as Brazil (states of Amapá, Amazonas and Pará), “Guianas” and Peru. Roubik (2004) recognized two forms among the bees usually treated as Eg. piliventris and considered the female specimen from Pará deposited at MSNG as the “ holotype ” of Eg. piliventris . With the available data, Roubik (2004: 238, 244–246) considered Eg. lugubris Roubik, 2004 as restricted to western Amazon and Eg. piliventris as restricted to the eastern Amazon. Moure et al. (2007) listed only female onomatophores deposited at the ‘Museo Civico di Storia Naturale’ and at the ‘Naturalis’ of Eg. piliventris (as syntypes). Males were apparently not traceable. Finally, Nemésio (2009a: 238, footnote 81) recognized Roubik’s (2004) designation of a lectotype stating that: “ Moure (1967b: 405) listed syntypes (male and female) ‘in coll. Saussure’ and a ‘paratype’ at the ‘Museo Civico di Storia Naturale’, Genoa. As a member of the type series, this ‘paratype’ mentioned by Moure was eligible to be designated as a lectotype [it is from Pará, as in the original description by Guérin-Méneville (1844: 458)]. Moure et al. (2007: 240) treated the type material as a syntypic series, but I here recognize Roubik’s (2004: 246) action of selecting this female deposited in Genoa as lectotype as valid (in spite of writing ‘holotype’ instead of ‘lectotype’). Male and female specimens deposited at the ‘Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum’, Leiden, the Netherlands, become, thus, paralectotypes ”.

Although it is correct that the specimen deposited at MSNG is eligible to be designated as a lectotype, Roubik’s (2004) action cannot be validated under the Code, since Article 74.7 of the Code states that lectotype designations after 1999, to be valid, must employ the term “ lectotype ” or an exact translation (e.g., “ lectotypus ”, but not “the type ”) and must contain an express statement of the taxonomic purpose of the designation, two criteria not met by Roubik (2004): he used “ holotype ” instead of “ lectotype ” or an exact translation and his designation contained no express statement of its taxonomic purpose (although it is implicit from his entire work, in which a similar species was described, that fixing the identity of the species Eg. piliventris was essential).

To avoid any misinterpretations in the future, and since Roubik (2004) clearly established the identity of Euglossa piliventris to avoid confusion with the similar Eg. lugubris described in that paper, in the aim of nomenclatural stability, we designate in this work the female Eg. piliventris from Brazil, state of Pará, deposited at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa, Italy, as the lectotype of the Eg. piliventris Guérin-Méneville, 1844 . The specimens deposited at the Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands, become, thus, paralectotypes. A photograph of the lectotype is here provided ( Fig. 5 ), as well as of its labels ( Fig. 6 ).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Euglossa piliventris Guérin-Méneville, 1844 lectotype, habitus.

FIGURE 6. Euglossa piliventris Guérin-Méneville, 1844 lectotype, labels.