Centris, Fabricius, 1804

Vivallo, Felipe, 2020, Species of the bee genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Heinrich Friese (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Zootaxa 4820 (2), pp. 231-259 : 231-233

The Centris species described by Friese

Friese described 44 species of Centris and 27 varieties from several parts of the Neotropical and Holarctic regions. Of the 71 new taxa proposed, 27 of them were from single specimens (holotypes) and 44 from type series. In general, these series were composed by a relatively low number of specimens, except in C. inermis Friese, 1899 and C. clypeata Friese, 1899 where he mentioned the existence of more than 50 and 100 specimens, respectively. It is important to highlight that in all cases the specimens of the type series were conspecific, except in C. atra Friese, 1899 (see Vivallo 2018). This is an important aspect, because designating one or other syntype as the lectotype would not bring taxonomic repercussions on the identity of the species.

Friese (1901) was the first to propose subgeneric categories in Centris . However, of all the species and varieties he described, only one of them— C. (Cyanocentris) buchwaldi Friese, 1901 —was positioned within his subgeneric classification system. It is not clear why Friese did not describe his species using his own subgenera, although it is probably because they were all created using artificial characters, mainly coloration, which led him to be criticized by other melitologists of his time.

Friese (1899) made his first contribution in the genus Centris at the end of the 19 th century, describing 28 species and eight varieties, mainly from South America. The species proposed were: C. breviceps Friese, 1899 ; C. bucephala Friese, 1899 ; C. femoralis Friese, 1899 ; C. intermixta Friese, 1899 ; C. klugii Friese, 1899 ; C. lateritia Friese, 1899 ; C. proxima Friese, 1899 ; C. ruficauda Friese, 1899 ; C. rufipes Friese, 1899 ; and C. scopipes Friese, 1899 from Brazil; C. flavifrons var. flavofasciata Friese, 1899 ; C. mexicana var. albiceps Friese, 1899 ; and C. sericea Friese, 1899 from Mexico; C. birkmanii Friese, 1899 and C. limbata Friese, 1899 from the United States; C. flavohirta Friese, 1899 and C. nigripes Friese, 1899 from Bolivia, C. flavothoracica Friese, 1899 ; C. niveofasciata Friese, 1899 ; and C. pseudoephippia Friese, 1899 from Venezuela; C. caelebs Friese, 1899 and C. nigrofasciata Friese, 1899 from Ecuador; C. inermis from Brazil and Mexico; C. lutea Friese, 1899 from Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico; C. flavifrons var. nigritula Friese, 1899 from Trinidad and Tobago (see Cockerell 1926), C. flavifrons var. rufescens Friese, 1899 from Panama and C. insignis var. scutellaris Friese, 1899 from Colombia; C. agilis var. abdominalis Friese, 1899 from Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico; C. atra from Brazil and Colombia; C. atriventris var. rubripes Friese, 1899 from Venezuela, Panama and Brazil; C. clypeata from Mexico and Guatemala; C. minor Friese, 1899 from Venezuela and Brazil; C. mocsaryi Friese, 1899 from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Peru; C. smithii Friese, 1899 from Bolivia and Chile; C. tricolor Friese, 1899 from Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina; and C. labrosa Friese, 1899 and C. labrosa var. simplex Friese, 1899 from an undetermined locality that he cited as “Amer centr meridional”. The next year, Friese (1900) proposed three new species, C. pauloensis Friese, 1900 and C. weilenmanni Friese, 1900 from Brazil, and C. horvathi Friese, 1900 from Peru.

In 1901, Friese published a monograph of the genus Centris (s. lat.), providing a list, comments, keys, and relevant taxonomic information about all species of the genus known until that year. In that article, he described C. burgdorfi Friese, 1901 and C. burgdorfi var. paraguayensis Friese, 1901 from Paraguay; C. buchwaldi from Ecuador; C. xanthocnemis var. ardesiaca Friese, 1901 from Bolivia; C. obscuriventris Friese, 1901 from Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay; and the Brazilian species C. bimaculata var. claripennis Friese, 1901 ; C. obsoleta var. pleuralis Friese, 1901 and C. smithiana Friese, 1901 .

In 1904a, Friese described new species of bees from Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Between these new taxa, he described C. mixta Friese, 1904a from northern Chile. The same year, Friese (1904b) published an addendum to the monograph of Centris published in 1901, describing C. caelebs Friese, 1904b from Ecuador, C. labiata Friese, 1904b from Costa Rica, and newly C. mixta Friese, 1904b from Chile.

In 1908, he described the variety C. muralis var. melanopus Friese, 1908 based on specimens of both sexes collected in Argentina, and in 1912a,b, he proposed C. (Hemisia) bakeri Friese, 1912a from Mexico and C. (Hemisia) metathoracica 1912a from Ecuador as new species, as well as the varieties C. americana var. bicincta 1912b from Brazil and French Guyana, and C. americana var. umbrina 1912b from Brazil.

In 1924, Friese published his second largest number of new Centris species, after his first 1899 article. In that paper, he described one new species and 12 new varieties, almost all from South America. The taxa described were C. maerens var. infernalis Friese, 1924 ; C. maerens var. unicincta Friese, 1924 ; C. versicolor var. unifascata Friese, 1924 ; and C. flavilabris var. fulva Friese, 1924 ; from Brazil; C. collaris var. fluviatilis Friese, 1924 from Brazil and Bolivia; the Bolivian species C. dorsata var. maculosa Friese, 1924 and C. fusciventris var. scutellosa Friese, 1924 ; C. maerens var. flavicollis Friese, 1924 and C. fusciventris var. atriceps Friese, 1924 from Paraguay; C. chilensis var. neoqueenensis Friese, 1924 from Argentina; C. costaricensis Friese, 1924 from Costa Rica, and C. versicolor var. rufiventris Friese, 1924 from Bolivia, Suriname and Brazil. In that article, as he did with C. mixta in 1904a,b, Friese described again C. americana var. umbrina Friese, 1924 using the same specimen he used to describe it in 1912b. Finally, in 1925, Friese published his last two new species in the genus, describing C. costaricensis var. erubescens Friese, 1925 from Costa Rica and C. flavopilosa Friese, 1925 from Ecuador.

The purpose of this article is to study taxonomically all species and varieties of Centris bees described by Friese between 1899 and 1925. For this, their taxonomic status is evaluated, providing information on the condition and depository of the primary types used by him to describe each taxon, as well as relevant notes and comments to clarify the taxonomy of the species.