Two continents and two names for a Neotropical colletid bee species (Hymenoptera: Colletidae: Neopasiphaeinae): Hoplocolletes ventralis (Friese, 1924)

Hoplocolletes ventralis (Friese, 1924)

Description of male: Approximate body length: 10 mm; length of forewing: 7.7 mm; maximum width of metasoma (T2): 2.5 mm. Color: predominantly black; apical half of mandible, ventral surface of F2–F11, tibiae, femora, trochanters, S2–S3, apical margins of terga dark reddish brown. Tarsi light brown. Tegula, pterostigma and wing veins dark brown; wing membrane brown infumated. Pubescence: predominantly pale yellowish or cream on entire body. Face and pronotal lobe with abundant pubescence; clypeus with decumbent to semidecumbent pilosity (0.5 mm in length), more erect and shorter on paraocular area and frons (0.3–0.45 mm in length). Mesoscutum with scarce pilosity. Lateral pilosity of mesepisternum semidecumbent and sparse (0.25–0.35 mm in length). Integumental surface: punctation coarse and dense on clypeus (≤1 pd), finer and denser frons (<1 pd), on vertex variable (denser medially, sparser (≤1 pd) laterally as well as on gena) integument smooth and shiny between punctures; coarse and dense on mesosoma, sparser toward center of disc of mesoscutum, and inferior on mesepisternum; metapostnotum smooth and shiny, delimited from pronotum by a pit-row; T1 smooth and shiny, with very sparse (2–7 pd) moderately coarse punctation, transversal line of barely aligned punctures delimiting marginal region of T1; on T2 slightly denser than on T1, but punctation leaving broad shiny areas as well; T3 and T4 with basal portion finely and densely punctated, sparser and coarser distad. Structure (measurements in mm): head about 1.1× wider than long (2.66:2.43); inner orbits converging below (upper to lower interorbital distance, 1.76:1.47), inner margin almost straight; eye about 3.6× longer than its maximum width in frontal view (1.76:0.48), in lateral view about 1.2× wider than gena (0.74:0.64). Vertex well developed above ocelli (distance between upper margin of lateral ocellus and vertex = 0.53), comparable to ocelloocular distance (0.51); interocellar distance = 0.14; diameter of median ocellus = 0.25. Approximate length of antenna = 4.0, length and maximum width of scape = 0.73, 0,2; of pedicel = 0.16; of F1 = 0.19; F2 about 1.5× wider than long (0.18:0.27); F3 about 1.5× longer than wide (0.30:0.21). Mesoscutum length = 1.83, intertegular distance = 1.75. Genital capsule and male S7 and S8 as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 (see discussion about the male terminalia below, in the ‘Revised Diagnosis’ for Hoplocolletes).

Hoplocolletes Michener, 1965

Revised diagnosis for the genus (characters apply to both sexes unless otherwise stated). Length 10–12 mm. Body black to dark brown; head and mesosoma with conspicuous coarse punctation; T1 and T2 largely impunctate, smooth and shining (remaining terga rather finely and closely punctate); pubescence short, sparse, blackish to dark brown on female (light yellow to fulvous on male), except on hind legs and metasomal sterna where there are long, pale hairs; metasomal hair bands absent, male clypeus with plumose and semidecumbent pubescence. Mandible with an ordinary preapical tooth. Inner orbits subparallel (female, Figs. 1D and 2C) or converging below (male, Fig. 3C). Facial fovea absent; clypeus weakly convex; labrum with apical margin concave medially, elevated zone highest medially, occupying about basal half of labrum (Michener, 1989: Fig. 7Q). Preoccipital carina absent; malar area linear; clypeus little protuberant. Male flagellum elongate (approximately 3.0 mm long), F2 longer than wide. Vertex produced behind ocelli and eyes (Figs. 1A, 1D, 2A, 2C, 3A, 3B and 3C). Apex of scape of female reaching upper margin of median ocellus (Figs. 1D and 2C); antennae arising about middle of face. Dorsolateral angle of pronotum low, rounded, scarcely evident; metapostnotum smooth, marginal line pitted, its basal part slightly longer than metanotum. Femoral scopa sparse, formed by long delicate branched hairs, those behind corbicula and on trochanter long but simple; tibial scopal hairs dividing to form few major branches. Female basitibial plate distinct, hairs short, appressed, different from those of adjacent areas, marginal carinae clearly exposed. Inner hind tibial spur of female coarsely pectinate with 5–6 teeth (Michener, 1989: Fig. 7Q). Forewing with three submarginal cells, second much shorter than third and receiving recurrent vein beyond middle (Figs. 1F and 3A); basal vein of forewing meeting cu-v (Fig. 1); stigma large, long, not quite parallel sided, two-thirds as long as costal side of marginal cell, marginal cell longer than distance between its apex and wing apex. T1 dorsally approximately twice wider than long; S3–S5 of female with dense, long (shorter than exposed part of sternum), pale yellow, simple hairs (some hooked at tips) forming band occupying apical half of each sternum, female S2 with similar but sparser hair band (Figs. 1C and 2D); S3–S5 of male with a longer hairs near apical margin, S5 with distinct apical fringe.

Male genital capsule and associated sterna of Hoplocolletes ventralis are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 along with exemplar species of two other neopasiphaeine genera: Nomiocolletes joergenseni (Friese, 1908) and Reedapis semicyanea (Spinola, 1851). According to the phylogenetic hypotheses of Almeida & Danforth (2009) and Almeida et al. (2012), Hoplocolletes and Nomiocolletes are closely related lineages, whereas Reedapis is part of a more distantly related clade. The interpretation of homologies for the male terminalia in this comparative context makes the understanding of relevant characters of Hoplocolletes more defensible. Apical process of male S7 comprising two lobes on each side: one apicolateral more developed and hairier (Fig. 5: lateral lobe—LLb) the other closer to the base of this process (Fig. 5: basal lobe—BLb), Nomiocolletes is distinctive in having a bilobed lateral lobe; Hoplocolletes does not have apical protuberances as found in other Neopasiphaeinae (Fig. 5: apical lobe—ALb); apodeme of S7 relatively long in relation to the apical process. Median process of male S8 (Fig. 5: MPr) similar in length to the remainder of S8; spiculum ordinary (not as produced as in Nomiocolletes or Reedapis). Gonobase of male genitalia (Fig. 6: Gbs) less than 1/4 of total length of genital capsule; gonostylus and gonocoxite (Fig. 6: Gns, Gcx) fused on dorsal surface but separable on ventral surface, apex of gonostylus rounded and not bent ventrad (directed mesad and ventrad in Nomiocolletes and Reedapis); apex of penis valve (Fig. 6: PV) bent ventrad, ventral spine well-developed (Fig. 6: SPV).