Colletes aethiopicus Kuhlmann

Kuhlmann, Michael & Pauly, Alain, 2013, The bee genus Colletes Latreille 1802 in Ethiopia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae), Zootaxa 3693 (2), pp. 267-292 : 273-275

Colletes aethiopicus Kuhlmann sp. n.

( Figs 6 , 7 )

Diagnosis. The affiliation of C. aethiopicus with a species-group is currently uncertain because the male is unknown. Provisionally it is placed in the C. rufitarsis species-group (see C. abessinicus ). The female of C.

aethiopicus differs from all other species of the group by a mix of smaller and larger punctures on the disc of T 1 in combination with the intense oily bluish sheen of the terga ( Fig. 6 d) (as in C. abessinicus but punctation much smaller and more dispersed ( Fig. 1 d)) and very broad apical tergal hair bands ( Fig. 6 a, d).

Description. Female. Bl = 10.0–11.0 mm. Head. Head wider than long. Integument black except part of mandible dark reddish-brown. Face except clypeus densely covered with long, yellowish to whitish-grey, erect hairs, vertex with few blackish hairs ( Fig. 6 b). Clypeus without longitudinal median depression, supraclypeal area square and convex in profile. Clypeus coarsely and densely punctate (i = 0.5d); surface between punctures smooth and shiny ( Fig. 6 b). Malar area medially about 1/3 as long as width of mandible base, finely striate. Antenna black. Mesosoma. Integument black. Mesoscutal disc between punctures densely shagreened and matt; disc sparsely punctate (i = 2.0–3.0d). Scutellum anteriorly impunctate with denser punctation apically, surface anteriorly smooth and shiny, apically shagreened and matt ( Fig. 6 c). Mesoscutum, mesepisternum and propodeum covered with yellowish to orange-brown, erect hairs, on mesoscutum and scutellum intermixed with black hairs ( Fig. 6 a, c). Wings. Slightly yellowish; wing venation dark brown. Legs. Integument of fore leg black, mid leg largely black with tibia apically and tarsal segments partly reddish-brown, hind leg almost completely orange-brown. Vestiture yellowish to greyish-white, scopa yellowish-white with a few blackish hairs dorsally at base. Metasoma. Integument black except depressed apical tergal margins reddish translucent; discs of T1–T3 with intense oilybluish sheen ( Fig. 6 d). T1 anteriorly and laterally covered with short, appressed yellowish-brown hairs and entirely densely covered with long, erect yellowish-brown hairs; T2 with basal hair band and laterally covered with short, appressed yellowish-brown hairs; on discs of T3–T4 apically short, appressed hairs occur connecting with apical tergal hairbands; apical tergal hair band of T1 narrow, on the following terga very broad ( Fig. 6 a, d). Terga densely and finely punctate (i <d), on T1 punctures are of different sizes, between punctures smooth and shiny ( Fig. 6 d).

Male. Unknown.

Type material (6 specimens). Holotype, female, ETHIOPIA, Oromia, Senkele Nat. Park [38°16´20´´ E 7°11´52´´ N], 2011m, 17.ix.2012, A. Pauly, Ocimum urticifolium (RBINS).

Paratypes: 5 Ƥ, same dates as holotype (RBINS, RCMK).

Etymology. Named after Ethiopia, where this species was collected.

General distribution. Only known from the type locality in Ethiopia ( Fig. 7 ).

Floral hosts. Ocimum urticifolium (Lamiaceae) .

Seasonal activity (first–last observations). IX.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Colletes abessinicus Friese, female: a. specimen, lateral view; b. head; c. scutum and scutellum; d. metasomal terga 1 and 2. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 6. Colletes aethiopicus Kuhlmann sp. n., female: a. specimen, lateral view; b. head; c. scutum and scutellum; d. metasomal terga 1 and 2. Scale bar: 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Distribution of Colletes aethiopicus Kuhlmann sp. n. and C. somereni Cockerell.