Thomas Onuferko · 9 Epeolus howardi, Axillae mesoscutellum female |
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Thomas Onuferko · 9 Epeolus howardi, Dorsal view female holotype |
Thomas Onuferko · 9 Epeolus howardi, Lateral view female |
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Thomas Onuferko · 9 Epeolus howardi, Lateral view male |
© Copyright source/photographer
· 5 Epeolus howardi, back, Caroline Co., MD |
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© Copyright source/photographer
· 5 Epeolus howardi, face, Caroline Co., MD |
© Copyright source/photographer
· 5 Epeolus howardi, right, Caroline Co., MD |
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© 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.
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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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Updated: 2024-03-29 06:15:43 gmt
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