Habropoda F. Smith, 1854

Dubitzky, Andreas, 2007, Revision of the Habropoda and Tetralonioidella species of Taiwan with comments on their host-parasitoid relationships (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae), Zootaxa 1483 (1), pp. 41-68 : 43

Genus Habropoda F. Smith, 1854

Habrophora Smith, 1854: 318 . Type species: Habrophora ezonata Smith, 1854 = Tetralonia tarsata Spinola, 1838 , by designation of Patton (1879).

Habropoda Smith, 1854: 320 , replacement for Habrophora Smith, 1854 . Type species: Habropoda ezonata Smith, 1854 .

Emphoropsis Ashmead, 1899: 60 . Type species: Anthophora floridana Smith, 1854 = Bombus laboriosus Fabricius, 1804 , by designation of Cockerell & Cockerell (1901).

Meliturgopsis Ashmead, 1899: 62 , no included species; Cockerell (1909: 414) included a species while synonymizing Meliturgopsis under Emphoropsis . Type species: Emphoropsis murihirta murina Cockerell, 1909 , first included species. (see also Michener, 1997)

Psithyrus (Laboriopsithyrus) Frison, 1927: 69 . Type species: Bombus laboriosus Fabricius, 1804 , by original designation.

The genus Habropoda Smith, 1854 consists of 10 to 18 mm long nest building bees within the long-tongued bee tribe Anthophorini . From all other members of the Anthophorini Habropoda is most clearly distinguished by the absence of a flabellum on the glossa and the characteristic shape of the gonostyli of male genitalia ( Dubitzky, 2005, 2006b).

The genus includes about 60 species, in the Old World ranging from the Mediterranean region via Asia minor to North India, the Himalayan region, Vietnam and China (including Taiwan) and in the New World from North to Middle America. Krombein et al. (1979) listed 21 American species of Habropoda , while about 39 species are known from the Old World ( Lieftinck, 1966, 1974; Schwarz & Gusenleitner, 2001; Wu, 2000). With 31 species most of the Old World Habropoda are distributed in the Oriental region, while only eight species are found in the western palearctic realm. Within the Oriental region Habropoda is most diverse in mainland China, which harbours 17 species ( Wu, 1979, 1983, 1991, 2000). On Taiwan, Habropoda comprises four species, of which one species and one subspecies are new to science.