Megachile levistriga Alfken 1934

Praz, Christophe, Al-Shahat, Ahmed M. & Gadallah, Neveen S., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the subgenus Eutricharaea Thomson in Egypt, with a key to the species and the description of two new species (Hymenoptera, Anthophila Megachilidae, genus Megachile Latreille), Zootaxa 5032 (3), pp. 301-330 : 316-318

Megachile levistriga Alfken 1934

Figs 35, 36 .

Megachile levistriga Alfken 1934: 153 , ♀, ♂, “Wadi Digla”. Lectotype ♀, by present designation (see below), ZMHB. Megachile levistriga antineae Benoist 1961: 52 , ♀, “ Hirafok , stz. n. H 16,1 [ Algeria]” . Holotype ♀, OLML.

Type material: Lectotype ♀, designated here, a specimen in good condition, labeled as follows: 1. “ Wadi Digla Egypt 13.3.31 Dr. H. Priesner ”. 2. “ Megachile levistriga sp. nova det. J. D. Alfken 1932”. 3. “Typus” [printed on red label]. 4. “ Lectotype M. levistriga des. Tkalců” ( ZMHB). This designation has not been published and is accepted here. The holotype of M. levistriga antineae has been examined.

Additional material: ALGERIA: 1 ♀, Amsel , 30 km S Tamanrasset, 1.4.1989, leg. M. Schwarz ( CPCN) ; EGYPT: 1 ♂, Beni Suef (Beni Suef), 8.iiv.1964 ( PPDD) ; 1 ♂, Zeitoun (Cairo), 14.v.1914, leg. Neguif ( PPDD) ; 1 ♂, W. Garawi ( Helwan ), 29.iii.1932, leg. Farag ( PPDD) ; 1 ♀, Wadi Digla (Cairo), 16.v.1952, leg. Priesner ( EFC) ; 2 ♀, Wadi Hoff (Cairo), 8.iii.1958, leg. Aly ( ASUA) ; 1 ♂, Kom Osheim (Faiyum), vi.1956, leg. Aly ( ASUA) ; 1 ♂, Gabal el Asfar ( Qalyubiya ), 8.vii.1953, leg. Aly ( ASUA) ; 1 ♂, Maryut (Alexandria), iii,1932 ( ASUA) ; JORDAN: 1 ♀, Dead Sea, Road Ain Zarqua-Ma’in, 15.4.2007, leg. Praz, Sedivy, Müller ( CPCN) ; 1 ♀, Road Desert Highway - Wadi Rum , 17.4.2007, leg. Praz, Sedivy, Müller ( CPCN) ; 5 ♀, Rawayshid , 23.4.1996, leg. Marek Halada ( CPCN, OLML) ; ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: 1 ♀, Rift Valley, Hazeva , 15.iv.2011, leg. A. Gotlieb ( CPCN) ; 5 ♀, Road 40 between Yeleq and Hadav mountains , 30°32’33’’N 34°55’03’’, 534 m, 24.iv.2011, leg. A. Dorchin ( CPCN) ; TU- NISIA: 3 ♀, 1 ♂, Tataouine , 11.4.2001, leg. M. Halada ( CPCN) ; MOROCCO: 1 ♀, 25 km w Ouarzazate , 1200 m, leg. Sedivy & Müller ( CPCN) ; Draa-Tal nahe Agdz 900 m, 4.3.2006, leg. A. Müller ( CPCN) ; 1 ♀, Ouarzazate 1200 m, 19.4.2008, leg. F. Amiet ( CPCN) .

Distribution: Egypt, Israel and Palestine, Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco.

Diagnosis: Female: Small Eutricharaea of the M. rotundata group, with dark brown cuticula, lateral fovea on T2 but not T3, similar to other Palearctic species such as M. flabellipes or M. rotundata . The most distinctive feature is the coarsely and sparsely punctate clypeus, medially with a wide (at least 3–4 puncture diameters) impunctate area ( Fig. 35 ). The integument is entirely dark, the vestiture mostly white, the scopa is black on part of S5 and on S6; the hind trochanter is not covered by modified vestiture. Punctation and sculpture (with the exception of the clypeus mentioned above) as in M. flabellipes , ocelloccipital distance equal to approximately one diameter of lateral ocellus, thus particularly short for a member of the rotundata group.

Male: Very similar to M. flabellipes in the following characters: front tarsi slightly modified, front coxa with strong tooth and conspicuous patch of hairs in front of the base of the tooth; cuticula of front femur partly orange, especially along ventral margin ( Fig. 36 ); front tibia predominantly brown; front tarsi orange, tarsal segments 2 and 3 with distinct, dark maculation ventrally. M. levistriga differs from M. flabellipes in the following characteristics: front tarsi with posterior fringe of hairs short ( Fig. 36 ), hairs shorter than width of tarsal segments (in M. flabellipes , hairs much longer than width of tarsal segments); front tarsal segments 2 and 3 with an ill-defined, dark maculation on ventral surface (ventral surface of segments 2 and 3 dark-brown, but without maculation in M. flabellipes ); vestiture nearly entirely snow-white (vestiture yellowish white in fresh specimens in M. flabellipes ); ocelloccipital distance shorter, equal to 1.5 ocellar diameter (in M. flabellipes , ocelloccipital distance equal to 2 ocellar diameters). In addition, the punctation is finer and less coarse in M. levistriga , especially on the vertex, where the punctures are only slightly larger than those on mesonotum, separated by interspaces that are at most 1 puncture diameter (punctures on vertex twice as large as those on mesonotum, interspaces up to 2 puncture diameters in M. flabellipes ).

Note: We compared the holotype ♀ of M. levistriga antinae , as well as females from various localities in Morocco, with typical female specimens of M. levistriga from Egypt; there are at most weak differences in the color of the vestiture (in particular, vestiture predominantly white on mesonotum and vertex in the holotype of M. levistriga antinae ; vestiture on mesonotum and vertex intermixed with brown hairs in typical M. levistriga ), but no consistent difference in the sculpture. We therefore do not recognize M. levistriga antinae as a distinct subspecies.

Figures

FIGURES 35–40. 35. Front view of head of female Megachile levistriga. 36. Front leg of male of M. levistriga. 37. Dorsal view of mesosoma and head of female of M. minutissima. 38. Front view of head of female of M. minutissima. 39. Dorsal view of mesosoma and head of male of M. minutissima. 40. Clypeus of female of M. kruegeri.