Hoplitis (Anthocopa) daurica ( Radoszkowski, 1887 )

Proshchalykin, Maxim Yu. & Müller, Andreas, 2019, Additional records of osmiine bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Osmiini) from Siberia, Zootaxa 4563 (1), pp. 163-174 : 167-168

Hoplitis (Anthocopa) daurica ( Radoszkowski, 1887)

Hoplitis daurica was described based on a single female from the eastern coast of the Lake Baikal (Buryatia Republic). Two Hoplitis males of the subgenus Anthocopa collected in Romanovka in Buryatia Republic in 1983 and Kara-Sug in southern Tyva Republic in 2013 are assumed to represent the hitherto unknown male sex of H. daurica . This assumption is based on morphological similarities with the female type (e.g., size, tegular colour, cuticular punctation, and propodeal structure), the proximity of the type locality to Romanovka, which is about 250 km east of Lake Baikal, and the absence of other H. ( Anthocopa ) species in this region.

Description. Male. The 7.5–8.0 mm long male of H. daurica is easily recognizable by the bilobed tergum 7 (Fig. 2) and a keel-like longitudinal projection at the apical margin of sternum 6 (Fig. 4). This projection is about as long as the apical width of the gonoforceps and bears rather long single hairs. The only other Palaearctic Hoplitis (Anthocopa) species possessing both a bilobed tergum 7 and a similar keel-like projection on sternum 6 is H. alatauensis ( Tkalců, 1992) known from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ( Tkalců 1992; Müller 2018). With a body length of 10–12 mm, the male of H. alatauensis is distinctly larger than the male of H. daurica . The two species further differ by the form of tergum 7 (Figs 2, 3), the shape of the sterna 4–5 (Figs 4, 5) and the form of the gonoforceps (Figs 6, 7): in H. alatauensis , the lateral sides of tergum 7 are projecting giving tergum 7 an almost four-lobed appearance (not projecting in H. daurica ), the apical margins of sterna 4 and 5 are deeply emarginated (shallowly emarginated in H. daurica ), and the apex of the gonoforceps is longer, regularly tapering towards the apex and less strongly bent (shorter, not regularly tapering towards the apex and more strongly bent in H. daurica ). Common to the males of both species are yellowish-brown to orange tegulae, a narrow longitudinal area across the scutellum devoid of any punctures and a polished propodeal triangle, which is slightly impressed and dull at its base.

Material examined. Russia. Tyva Republic. 1 ♂, Kara-Sug Lake [92°05′E 51°23′N], 19.VII.2013, M. Shcherbakov [FCBV]; Buryatia Republic. 1 ♂, Romanovka [112°46′E 53°12′N], 7.VII.1983, D. Shcherbakov [ ZISP] .

Distribution in Siberia. * Tyva Rep., Buryatia Rep.

General distribution. Russia (Eastern Siberia).

Remark. The female holotype of Hoplitis daurica is in a very poor condition and partly damaged, rendering a redescription impossible as the relevant characters for Hoplitis (Anthocopa) females are not visible (e.g., the clypeus, which is taxonomically very important, is covered by a fluid, the pilosity is entirely glued to the body, the recognition of structural characters such as the clypeal or tergal punctation or of the colour of the pilosity is only partially possible etc.). Therefore, it cannot be excluded with certainty that the holotype of H. daurica belongs to an already described H. ( Anthocopa ) species. However, the only other H. ( Anthocopa ) specimens known so far from Siberia are the two males from the Buryatia and the Tyva Republics (see above), strongly suggesting that these two males and the holotype female are conspecific and that H. daurica indeed represents a species of its own.