Epicharis (Epicharitides) rufescens Moure & Seabra, 1959

Villamizar, Germán & Vivallo, Felipe, 2024, Taxonomic revision of the oil-collecting bee subgenus Epicharis (Epicharitides) Moure, 1945 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with the description of two new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 928 (1), pp. 1-61 : 39-43

Epicharis (Epicharitides) rufescens Moure & Seabra, 1959

Figs 9 , 12

Epicharis (Epicharitides) rufescens Moure & Seabra, 1959: 123 (original description).

Epicharis (Epicharitides) rufescens – Gaglianone 2001: 187 (distribution). — Silveira et al. 2002: 102 (list, distribution). — Moure et al. 2007: 139 (catalogue, distribution).

Diagnoses

Females Pubescence predominantly testaceous; yellow maculae well-developed on face, mostly on paraocular areas; area malar sub-rectangular; posterior margin of mesoscutellum with a yellow macula; T1–T4 with appressed yellow to testaceous hairs mainly on medial area of disc; tegula and wing veins reddish brown; basitibial plate light brown.

Males

Pubescence mostly yellowish to testaceous with whitish hairs on gena and legs; yellow maculae on face more developed than those on female; malar area sub-rectangular; yellow maculae on most of posterior margin of mesoscutellum; apical halves of T2–T5 with yellow to testaceous appressed hairs; tegula and wing veins reddish brown; hind femur robust.

Type material

Holotype female ( DZUP, not studied) . Paratype female ( MNRJ, studied). Paratype male ( MNRJ, studied).

Material examined (n = 1 ♀, 1 ♂)

BRAZIL – Pará • 1 ♀, 1 ♂; “COLEÇÃO CAMPOS SEABRA\ OBIDOS Pará BRASIL; IV-1955 J. Brazilino \ PARATYPE E. (Epicharitides) rufescens J.S. Moure 56”; MNRJ ✝.

Morphology

Female ( Fig. 9A–B )

MEASUREMENTS. Approximate body length: 13.5. Head width: 4.4. Mesosoma width: 4.7. Metasoma width: 4.9. Forewing length: 11.0.

COLORATION. Integument largely dark brown to black. Light reddish-brown on mandible, pronotum, legs including basitibial plate and metasoma. Dark yellowish on apical halves of T2–T5, except lateral sides of disc as two emarginations. Ventral surface of scape, pedicel, F1 and F2 reddish brown. Maculation as follows: wide stripe on paraocular area near the margin of compound eye, from alveolar tangent to lower paraocular area, wider on lower area; longitudinal line on clypeal disc; at supraclypeal area, finely interrupted medially; a stripe on apical margin of scape; on basal half of labrum, medially emarginated; on most of malar area, mainly on anterior area; on most of dorsal surface of mandible, except apex; a faint irregular spot on basal margin of fore tibia; an irregular stripe near the dorsolateral angle of pronotum; an irregular spot on anterior margin of tegula; a wide transversal and irregular stripe on mesoscutellum. Tegula and tarsi reddish brown. Wings and veins dark brown.

PUBESCENCE. Predominantly testaceous to yellowish with whitish hairs on paraocular area, basal lateral sides of clypeus, dorsal surface of mandible, gena, fore tibia, dorsal surface of basitarsus and ventral surface of metepisternum. Ferruginous hairs on mandible and ventral surface of hind tibia and basitarsus. Clypeal disc smooth, lateral sides with short, scattered and simple hairs (0.5–1 × OD). Labrum with dense, short and simple hairs on apical half, longer towards lateral and apical margins (1–4× OD), almost absent on basal half. Dense, long plumose hairs on paraocular area near the alveolus, vertex and occipital area (1–4 × OD). Lower gena with appressed pubescence mainly on area near the margin of compound eyes, scattered and shorter towards upper gena. Dense, long and plumose hairs on mesosoma (2–3 × OD), sparser on disc of metepisternum and nearly absent on lateral sides of pronotum. Long, coarse, dense and simple hairs on ventral surface of mesosoma, finer on mesepisternum and anterior surface of coxa. Discs of T1–T4 with appressed pubescence mainly on yellow areas. Anterior surface and disc of T1 with scattered and plumose hairs as those on propodeum. Long, decumbent, dense and simple hairs on preapical margin of T5 (3–5 × OD), with tomentose pubescence on distal margin. Long, dense and simple hairs on posterior surface of S2–S5 (1–4× OD), sparser on medial area.

SCULPTURE SURFACE. Lower half of clypeus weakly areolate, upper half with fine, circular and sparse punctation (1–3 × puncture width) coarser at lateral sides. Labrum weakly areolate, more evident towards apex. Paraocular area with fine, circular and scattered punctation (2–5 × puncture width), coarser on frons and finer and denser on vertex and occipital area (0.5–2 × puncture width). Gena with sparse and fine punctures barely evident. Dorsum of mesosoma with fine and dense punctation (1–2 × puncture width), coarser on metepisternum and nearly absent on lateral sides of pronotum. Terga weakly imbricate, lateral sides of T1 and apical area of T5 smooth. Medial area of S2–S5 with coarse, circular and sparse punctation (2–4× punctation width), denser and finer towards apical margin, nearly absent towards base.

STRUCTURES. Head broader than long (1.2: 1). Ratio of upper and lower interocular distances: 0.8: 1. Maximum interocular distance shorter than length of compound eye (0.8: 1). Clypeus broader than long (1.6: 1) with more length than clypeocellar distance (1.1: 1). Labrum longer than broad (1.2: 1). Interalveolar distance longer than alveolorbital distance (2.3: 1). Interalveolar distance shorter than alveolocellar distance (0.8: 1). Lateral ocelli above the upper supraorbital tangent. Interocellar distance equal to ocellocular distance (1: 1). Frontal carina extending from supraclypeal carina to median ocellus (1.4 × OD). Length of F1 equal to length of F2 and F3 and shorter than length of F2–F4 (0.6: 0.6: 1). Vertex at the same level of the upper supraorbital tangent. Epistomal suture and clypeal carinae conspicuous. Mesoscutellum rounded in lateral view.

Male ( Fig. 9C–D )

As the female, except as follows:

MEASUREMENTS. Approximate body length: 12.2. Head width: 3.9. Mesosoma width: 4.3. Metasoma width: 4.4. Forewing length: 11.2.

COLORATION. Legs and lateral sides of T1 lighter reddish brown. Maculae as follows: on paraocular area, from alveolar tangent to lower paraocular area; on ventral surface of scape, pedicel and base of F1, barely noticeable; a triangular shape on lower margin of clypeal disc, finely prolonged towards upper margin; at supraclypeal area; on labrum, malar area and most of mandible, except apex; an irregular spot on basal margin of fore and middle tibiae; on most of ventral surface of fore and middle trochanters; a wide stripe on posterior margin of mesoscutellum; an obscured stripe on basal lateral sides of terga.

PUBESCENCE. White on ventral area of mesosoma and legs. Dense and plumose hairs on occipital area, mesosoma and T1.

SCULPTURE SURFACE. Lower half of clypeal disc weakly areolate and upper half with fine and scattered punctation (1–4× puncture width), denser on lateral sides. Upper paraocular area with sparser punctation (2–5 × puncture width) and impunctate areas near the alveolus. Mesosoma with coarser punctation, mainly on metepisternum.

STRUCTURES. Head broader than long (1.2: 1). Ratio of upper and lower interocular distances: 0.9: 1. Maximum interocular distance shorter than length of compound eye (0.7: 1). Clypeus broader than long (1.8: 1) with length equal to clypeocellar distance (1: 1). Width of labrum equal to length (1: 1). Interalveolar distance longer than alveolorbital distance (2.8: 1). Interalveolar distance shorter than alveolocellar distance (0.8: 1). Lateral ocelli slightly above the upper supraorbital tangent. Interocellar distance slightly longer than ocellocular distance (1.1: 1). Frontal carina inconspicuous (1.5× OD). Length of F1 longer than F2 (1.2: 1), F2 shorter than F3 (0.7: 1) and F3 equal to F4 (1: 1), (0.9: 0.7: 1: 1). Clypeal carinae conspicuous and epistomal suture barely evident. Malar area sub-rectangular. Apical tooth about twice as long as preapical tooth. Middle trochanter conical. Hind femur and tibia robust. Anterior and posterior surfaces of hind basitarsus curved.

Type locality

BRAZIL: Pará: Óbidos.

Distribution ( Fig. 12 )

Only known from the type locality.

Comments

Epicharis rufescens is only known from its type specimens, all of them collected in Óbidos, northern Brazil. The morphological descriptions here provided are more detailed with respect to the original description and they are based on the paratypes that were housed at MNRJ before being destroyed in the fire. At first glance, the specimens of this species look like aberrant Amazonic forms of E. duckei by their unusual coloration. However, the combination of characters cited above allows recognizing E. rufescens as a distinct species.

It is necessary to collect more specimens of this species to study its morphological variation and distribution range, mainly the variation related to the maculae because we evidenced some differences in their format and development taking into account the information provided in the original description.

Figures

Fig. 9. Epicharis (Epicharitides) rufescens Moure & Seabra, 1959. A–B. Paratype, ♀ (Brazil: Óbidos; MNRJ). A. Head, frontal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C–D. Paratype, ♂ (Brazil: Óbidos; MNRJ). C. Head, frontal view. D. Habitus, lateral view. Scale bars: A, C = 1 mm; B, D = 5 mm.

Fig. 12. Distribution records for E. lia sp. nov., E. mesoamericana sp. nov. and E. rufescens Moure & Seabra, 1959.