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Epeolus howardi Mitchell, 1962
Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Apidae   Epeolus
Subgenus: None

Epeolus howardi, Axillae mesoscutellum female
Thomas Onuferko · 9
Epeolus howardi, Axillae mesoscutellum female

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Epeolus howardi, Dorsal view female holotype
Thomas Onuferko · 9
Epeolus howardi, Dorsal view female holotype
Epeolus howardi, Lateral view female
Thomas Onuferko · 9
Epeolus howardi, Lateral view female

Epeolus howardi, Lateral view male
Thomas Onuferko · 9
Epeolus howardi, Lateral view male
Epeolus howardi, back, Caroline Co., MD
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Epeolus howardi, back, Caroline Co., MD

Epeolus howardi, face, Caroline Co., MD
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Epeolus howardi, face, Caroline Co., MD
Epeolus howardi, right, Caroline Co., MD
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Epeolus howardi, right, Caroline Co., MD

Epeolus howardi, both, top of thorax
© Rebekah Andrus Nelson · 1
Epeolus howardi, both, top of thorax
Overview
Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.

FEMALE�Length 9 mm.; black, antennal bases, labrum, mandibles, legs and tegulae testaceous, flagella somewhat more brownish, mid and hind spurs somewhat darker; upper half of pleura, lateral margins of scutum, and entire scutellum and axillae more ferruginous; lateral ocelli nearly contiguous with margin of vertex; cheeks extremely narrow, eyes in lateral view being four or five times as broad; labrum nearly twice as broad as the median length, shallowly grooved medially toward apex, with a pair of very minute, apical denticles on each side of this groove; inner margin of mandibles with a very slight median angle; posterior margin of scutellum straight, much exceeded by the extensive, triangular axillae (fig. 110); wings with the usual three submarginal cells, subhyaline basally, becoming lightly infuscated apically, veins piceous; face around base of antennae and venter of thorax densely silvery tomentose, cheeks rather densely covered with very short pale tomentum; margin of pronotum and tubercles, a pair of narrow, longitudinal, anterior lines on scutum, and metanotum, densely yellow tomentose, the lateral margins of posterior face of propodeum quite densely tomentose, with upper portion of pleura very thinly yellow tomentose; abdominal terga 1-4 with dense, yellow, apical, tomentose fasciae, these slightly interrupted at midline and slightly broader toward this interruption on 2-4, basal tergum yellow tomentose across base, median black patch of disc reaching very nearly to each extreme side, tergum 5 with a small patch of more silvery tomentum on each side of pseudopygidium; tegulae very minutely and quite closely punctate over median and posterior portions; face below ocelli shining, punctures distinctly separated and rather coarse and deep across median area, becoming sparse at margins of eyes, lower part of face and cheeks becoming very minutely and closely punctate; scutum rather finely and densely rugoso-punctate medially and across posterior half, punctures more distinct on each side anteriorly; scutellum and axillae somewhat more coarsely rugoso-punctate; pleura below with distinctly but not widely separated punctures, interspaces somewhat wider than diameter of punctures, becoming close on pleura above; punctures of abdominal terga minute and rather close, somewhat obscured by very short, dark and rather inconspicuous tomentum, punctures of the more apical segments more distinct but minute and very close; pseudopygidium rather narrow, median length nearly equal to apical width.

MALE�This answers in general to description of female, but front of face is more densely silvery tomentose, with lateral areas just below ocelli, adjacent to eyes, shining, impunctate and slightly swollen, punctures limited to the rather narrow, median area; tomentum of pleura somewhat more dense, obscuring surface; pygidium sub-triangular, with rather broadly rounded apex, margin carinate, surface quite smooth, with some very fine, suberect hairs.

TYPES � Holotype: Female, Southern Pines, N. C., Sept. 30, 1951. Allotype: topotypical, Sept. 15, 1949 (on Kuhnistera pinnata) (both Mitchell).

HOST � It is suspected that Colletes howardi is the host of this species.

Identification
Extracted from: Onuferko TM (2018). A revision of the cleptoparasitic bee genus Epeolus Latreille for Nearctic species, north of Mexico (Hymenoptera, Apidae). ZooKeys 755: 1–185. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.755.23939

Diagnosis. The following morphological features in combination (excluding any that are specific to the opposite sex of the one being diagnosed) can be used to tell E. howardi apart from all other North American Epeolus: the axilla is large, with the tip extending as far back as or beyond the posterior margin of the mesoscutellum, dilated laterally, and like the mesoscutellum ferruginous; the mesopleuron is closely (i≤1d) and evenly punctate; the metasomal terga are black; T1 has a distinct, although sometimes medially-interrupted, basal fascia; the mesoscutum and metasomal terga have bands of bright or pale yellow short appressed setae; at least the T1–T3 apical fasciae are distinctly interrupted medially; and the pseudopygidial area of the female is lunate with the apex <2 × the medial length. Epeolus howardi most closely resembles E. andriyi and E. floridensis, but in E. andriyi the axillae are shorter, not extending as far back as the posterior margin of the mesoscutellum, and in E. floridensis the mesoscutum and metasomal terga have bands of pale gray to white short appressed setae and T1 is (with few exceptions) ferruginous. Epeolus howardi is also similar to E. scutellaris, but in E. scutellaris the T1–T3 apical fasciae are complete or only very narrowly interrupted medially, and the pseudopygidial area of the female is lunate with the apex >2 × the medial length.

Redescription. FEMALE: Length 8.6 mm; head length 2.2 mm; head width 2.9 mm; fore wing length 6.0 mm.

Integument coloration. Black in part, at least partially ferruginous on mandible, labrum, clypeus, antenna, pronotal collar, pronotal lobe, tegula, axilla, mesoscutum, mesoscutellum, metanotum, mesopleuron, legs, T1, pygidial plate, and metasomal sterna. Mandible with apex darker than rest of mandible; preapical tooth slightly lighter than mandibular apex. Antenna brown and orange in part. Pronotal lobe and tegula pale ferruginous to amber. Mesoscutum reddish brown along lateral margin and with pair of reddish-brown markings near posterior margin between midline and parapsidal line. Wing membrane dusky subhyaline, slightly darker at apex. Legs more extensively reddish orange than brown or black. T1 dark in general, not contrasting strongly with remaining metasomal terga, but reddish brown laterally.

Pubescence. Face with tomentum densest around antennal socket. Clypeus, upper paraocular and frontal areas, and vertexal area mostly exposed. Dorsum of mesosoma and metasoma with bands of off-white to pale yellow short appressed setae. Mesoscutum with paramedian band. Mesopleuron sparsely hairy, but tomentum moderately dense along margins. Metanotum with tomentum uninterrupted, uniformly off white. T1 with discal patch quadrangular and very wide, the basal and apical fasciae only narrowly joined laterally by few sparsely scattered pale hairs. T1–T4 with apical fasciae interrupted medially and narrowed before becoming somewhat broader laterally, T2 with fascia without anterolateral extensions of tomentum. T5 with two patches of pale tomentum lateral to and contacting pseudopygidial area. T5 with pseudopygidial area lunate, its apex less than twice as wide as medial length, indicated by silvery setae on impressed disc of apicomedial region elevated from rest of tergum. S5 with apical fimbria of coppery to silvery hairs not extending beyond apex of sternum by more than 1/4 MOD.

Surface sculpture. Punctures dense. Labrum with larger punctures than clypeus, but punctures of both equally dense (i<1d). Upper paraocular area sparsely punctate in part, the interspaces shining. Small impunctate shiny spot lateral to lateral ocellus. Mesoscutum, mesoscutellum, and axilla coarsely and densely rugose-punctate. Tegula densely punctate mesally (i≤1d), less so laterally (i=1–2d). Mesopleuron with denser (i≤1d) punctures in upper half than ventrolateral half (i≤2d), the interspaces shining. Metasomal terga with punctures very fine, dense (i≈1d), evenly distributed on disc; the interspaces shining somewhat

Structure. Preapical tooth inconspicuous, blunt and obtuse. Labrum with pair of small subapical denticles, each preceded by small discrete longitudinal ridge. Frontal keel not strongly raised. Scape with greatest length 1.8 × greatest width. F2 noticeably longer than wide (L/W ratio = 1.7). Preoccipital ridge not joining hypostomal carina, from which it is separated by less than 1 MOD at its terminal. Mesoscutellum weakly bigibbous. Axilla large, its lateral margin (L) more than half as long as mesoscutellar width (W) (L/W ratio = 0.7) and tip extending beyond apex of horizontal dorsal portion of mesoscutellum; axilla with tip clearly visible, but unattached to mesoscutellum for less than 2/5 the medial length of axilla; axilla with lateral margin arcuate. Fore wing with three submarginal cells. Pygidial plate apically truncate.

MALE: Description as for female except for usual secondary sexual characters and as follows: F2 shorter, but still longer than wide (L/W ratio = 1.3); S4 and S5 with much longer coppery to silvery subapical hairs; pygidial plate apically rounded, with large deep punctures more or less evenly spaced throughout, with the interspaces shining


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