Pseudoanthidium (Pseudoanthidium) rotundiventre ( Pasteels, 1987 )

Belavadi, Vasuki V., 2017, The Resin and Carder bees of south India (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Anthidiini), Zootaxa 4317 (3), pp. 436-468 : 462

Pseudoanthidium (Pseudoanthidium) rotundiventre ( Pasteels, 1987)

( Figs 19 , 20 )

Exanthidium rotundiventre Pasteels, 1987: 234 .

Description. Female. Body length 6.78± 0.67 mm; black. Head: Black; bright yellow mark at base of mandible, clypeus, supraclypeal area with W-shaped mark, narrow stripe on paraocular area reaching almost to top of eye, frons below anterior ocellus, medially interrupted on vertex, gena; punctation fine, dense, with sparse glittering pale pubescence; clypeus nearly flat, without median longitudinal line, apical margin nearly truncate, slightly emarginate, medially with pubescence; mandible 5 dentate; anterior tentorial pit on epistomal sulcus below intersection with subantennal sulcus; F1 shorter than pedicel; first labial segment shorter than second; inter-ocular distance shorter than inter-antennal distance.

Mesosoma: Yellow stripe on mesoscutum anterio-laterally, bent almost at a right angle and passing by tegulae, pronotal lobe, mesoscutellum margin, interrupted in middle, outer side of basi tarsi, tibiae and apex of the femora, spot on anterior part of tegula; posterior margin of mesoscutellum broadly rounded, over hanging on metanotum; wings hyaline, fuscous along the costal; claws cleft.

Metasoma: Terga with impunctate apical margins very narrow, translucent brown; yellow transverse stripe on T1–T5 broadly interrupted on T1 gradually narrowed towards T5; T6 completely black, posterio-medially produced, transverse carina with spines; scopa pale white; white fasciae of short plumose hairs beneath scopa absent.

Male. Body length 5.90± 0.97 mm; black; similar to female except as follows: mandible tridentate, upper teeth broader than rest; bright yellow broad transverse stripe on T1–T7, broadly interrupted on T1–T4, very narrowly on T5, uninterrupted on T6–T7; apical margin of T7 with deep rounded incision medially; genitalia with gonostylus broad distally, with sparse short hairs, gonocoxite narrow without hairs; penis valve bent inward distally.

Floral Association: Tridax procumbens (Asteraceae)

Flight Period: April, June, and July.

Distribution. Known from south India and Sri Lanka.

Material examined. INDIA: Karnataka: Mysore , 2♀, 26.vii.2008, sweep net, Veena ; 2♀, 19.iv.2009; 2♀, 22.iv.2009; 1♂, 26.vii.2008, sweep net, collected by Dhanyavathi; 1♂, 6.vi.1992, sweep net, Ghorpade.

Comments. Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre was incorrectly assigned to the subgenus Exanthidium Pasteels, an exclusively Palearctic group, perhaps because it has a slight extension on apical margin of T 6 in the female. However, it lacks the concave surface of T6 and the small apical lobe on T 5 in the female, and the very elongate, deeply bilobed T 7 in the male that distinguish Exanthidium ( Michener 2007). The taxonomy of Asian Pseudoanthidium is still poorly understood. It is possible that P. orientale Bingham (1897) described from “Tenasserim” [Tanintharyi Division, Myanmar] is a senior synonym of P. rotundiventre described from Sri Lanka. Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre and P. fulviventre are superficially very similar but the former differs in having the posterior margin of the mesoscutellum rounded, and base of supraclypeal area with W-shaped yellow mark, whereas in the latter the posterior margin of the mesoscutellum is truncated, and there is a bright yellow patch at the base of supraclypeal area. Additionally, the shapes of male T7 are distinctive ( Fig. 20 b versus Fig. 18 b).

Figures

FIGURE 18. Male Pseudoanthidium flaviventre (Cameron) A) Face B) Tergal apical segments C) Genitalia D) S 8 E) Dorsal view F) Ventral view.

FIGURE 19. Female Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre (Pasteels) A) Face B) Mandible C) Scopa D) Dorsal view E) Ventral view.

FIGURE 20. Male Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre (Pasteels) A) Face B) Tergal apical segments C) Genitalia D) Dorsal view E) Ventral view.