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Lasioglossum lionotus (Sandhouse, 1923)
Dialictus lionotus Sandhouse, 1923; Paralictus asteris Mitchell, 1960; Lasioglossum (Dialictus) asteris (Mitchell, 1960); Lasioglossum (Dialictus) lionotum (Sandhouse, 1923), incorrect termination

Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Halictidae   Lasioglossum
Subgenus: Dialictus

Lasioglossum lionotus, F, Back, MD, Baltimore County
© Copyright source/photographer · 9
Lasioglossum lionotus, F, Back, MD, Baltimore County

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    Identification Summary: Small; parasitic; massively wide head; cheeks huge, greater than 2x the width of the eye and strongly angled; propodeal triangle with little to no striations and poorly defined.

    Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1960 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 141.

    FEMALE—Length 3.5-4.0 mm.; piceous, with bluish reflections on dorsum of thorax; pubescence very short and thin, entirely pale; head somewhat broader than long; clypeus flat, very broad and short; eyes sub parallel; antennae very slightly nearer each other than to eyes; mandibles elongate, sickle-shaped, entirely simple; cheeks very broad, with a rounded posterior angle opposite middle of eye; face below ocelli shining, punctures exceedingly minute and obscure, well separated, vertex more shining, with punctures more minute and obscure, cheeks polished, with minute and sparse punctures, lower surface shining, hypostomal carinae slightly divergent apically; lower half of face, including clypeus and supraclypeal area, shining, very minutely and rather sparsely punctate; scutum and scutellum polished, punctures very sparse and minute, barely evident even laterally, pleura somewhat less shining, with a few exceedingly minute and obscure punctures evident; entire propodeum smooth and shining, dorsal area without any evident striations; wings whitish hyaline, veins and stigma pale yellowish; tegulae yellowish; legs brownish basally, becoming yellow apically; abdominal terga smooth and shining, with only a few, widely scattered, minute punctures evident on the more apical terga.

    MALE—Length 4 mm.; largely piceous but head and dorsum of thorax with strong greenish reflections; pubescence short, thin and obscure, entirely pale, somewhat more copious on head and on thorax ventrally; length and breadth of head subequal; clypeus rather flat, considerably broader than long; eyes very slightly convergent below; antennae considerably nearer eyes than to each other, basal segment of flagellum about as broad as long, only slightly longer than pedicel, length of the following segments about one and one-half times the breadth; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; punctures of face below ocelli deep and distinct, quite coarse but close, becoming minute and obscure on the shining vertex and upper cheeks, lower surface of cheeks shining; lower half of face more shining, sparsely and minutely punctate; scutum and scutellum polished, with widely separated, fine but distinct punctures; pleura shining, with rather coarse and deep, irregularly scattered punctures; dorsal area of propodeum with a few basal, incomplete striations, lateral areas quite smooth; wings hyaline, veins and stigma testaceous; tegulae testaceous; basal segments of legs piceous, tibiae yellowish at base and apex, tarsi entirely yellowish; abdominal terga shining, minutely and rather sparsely punctate, the apical margins rather narrowly depressed and impunctate.

    TYPES—Holotype: Female, Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Wayne Co., N. C., Oct. 21, 1955 (Mitchell, on Aster) [authors’ coll.]. Allotype: Male, Ithaca, N. Y., Aug. 30, 1947 (C. Robinson) [Cornell]. Paratypes: NORTH CAROLINA: 1 female, Siler City, July 14, 1946 (M. W. Wing); 1 female, Raleigh, June 7, 1951 (Mitchell). WEST VIRGINIA: 9 females, Lost River State Park, Hardy Co., July 7, 1955, Aug. 22-31, 1956, July 29—Aug. 11, 1957 (Krombein). MARYLAND: 1 female, Crownsville, July 14, 1956 (Krombein). MICHIGAN: 1 female, Midland Co., Sept. 22, 1958; 1 female, Isabella Co., July 25, 1951; 2 females, 1 male, Shiawassee Co., Sept. 3, 1950 and Sept. 9-22, 1956; 1 male, Clare Co., Sept. 9, 1951 (all Dreisbach). NEW YORK: 1 female, Campus, Ithaca, Sept. 10, 1936 (P. P. Babiy); 1 female, Ithaca, Apr. 25, 1915; 1 female, 5 males, Ithaca, Aug. 30, 1947 (C. Robinson); 5 females, 9 males, South Hill, Ithaca, Aug. 1—Sept. 12, 1957 (prey of Philanthus) (H. E. Evans). NEW JERSEY: 1 male, Haddon Hts. Sept. 8, 1933 (L. J. Eottimer). INDIANA: 1 male, Clark Co., State Forest, June 10, 1936 (Montgomery, on Robinia). TENNESSEE: 1 male, Headquarters, G.S.M.N.P., June 14, 1946 (Dreisbach).

    Paratypes are in collections of the U. S. National Museum, Cornell University, Purdue University, R. R. Dreisbach, and the author.

    Retrieved from: Gibbs, J. 2010. Revision of the metallic species of Lasioglossum (Dialictus)in Canada (Hymenoptera, Halictidae, Halictini). Zootaxa; 2591, 69-73

    Paralictus asteris Mitchell, 1960: 446. ♀ ♂. Holotype. ♀ USA, North Carolina, Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, Wayne Co., 21.x.1955 [Mitchell].

    Taxonomy. Krombein, 1967: Lasioglossum (Paralictus) asteris, p. 467 (catalogue); Hurd, 1979: Paralictus asteris, p. 1974 (catalogue); Moure & Hurd, 1987: Paralictus asteris, p. 142 (catalogue).

    Diagnosis. Females of L. asteris, L. cephalotes, L. michiganense, L. platyparium and L. sitocleptum are recognisable by the characters typical of social parasites such as the lack of scopa, enlarged head, scythe-like mandible, acute pronotal dorsolateral angle (Fig. 5B) and flattened labrum without dorsal keel (Fig. 3B). Female L. asteris may be differentiated from other parasitic species by their small size (4.0–4.6 mm), mandible without subapical tooth or angle, gena much broader than eye and imbricate metapostnotum. Other parasitic species are larger (5.0–6.0 mm) and have typically rugoso-striate metapostnotum. Female L. cephalotes have very narrow mandibles without a subapical tooth or angle, a flattened basal tubercle on the labrum and weakly divergent hypostomal carinae. Female L. michiganense have a distinct subapical tooth, gena width subequal to eye and vertical striations on the mesepisternum. Female L. platyparium and L. sitocleptum both have a distinct basal tubercle on the labrum and a very weak subapical angle on the mandible. These final two can be distinguished by the much broader gena of L. platyparium (1.5 times eye width) relative to L. sitocleptum (subequal to eye width)

    Males of L. asteris, L. cephalotes, L. packeri, L. platyparium and the eastern USA species L. wheeleri (Mitchell) are recognisable by the acute pronotal dorsolateral angle. Male L. asteris may be differentiated from other parasitic species by their small size (4.2–4.5 mm), very wide separation of the antennal sockets (IAD/OAD > 2.0), strong pronotal collar and sometimes vein 1rs-m incomplete or absent. Male L. cephalotes have dense tomentum on the lower paraocular area which obscures the surface below and have a strong pronotal collar. Male L. packeri have abundant facial tomentum and very distinct mesepisternal punctures. Male L. platyparium have a relatively weak pronotal collar which is not noticeably different from non-parasites. Male L. wheeleri have very distinct mesepisternal punctures.

    Redescription. FEMALE. Length 4.15–4.64 mm; head length, 1.13–1.20 mm; head width 1.25–1.30 mm; forewing length 2.99–3.23 mm.

    Colouration. Head and mesosoma dull greenish blue, nearly brown. Labrum yellowish brown. Mandible orange. Pronotal lobe yellowish brown. Legs brown, tibial bases and apices, and tarsi yellowish brown. Antenna dark brown, flagellum with ventral surface reddish-brown. Tegula translucent yellow. Wing membrane subhyaline, venation and pterostigma pale honey-coloured. Metasoma dark brown, terga and sterna with apical margins translucent brownish yellow.

    Pubescence. Dull white. Very sparse. Head and mesosoma with moderately sparse woolly hairs (1–1.5 OD), longest on genal beard, metanotum and mesopleuron (1.5–2.5 OD). Face without appressed hairs. Pronotal collar with dense tomentum. Propodeum with sparse plumose hairs on lateral and posterior surfaces (1.5–2 OD). Mesofemoral comb reduced to sparse row of hairs. Mesotibial comb similarly reduced to cluster of dense hairs. Metafemoral scopa reduced relative to nest-building species. Penicillus greatly reduced, indistinguishable from other setae. Metasomal terga with sparse, fine setae. T1 acarinarial fan absent. Metasomal terga without appressed tomentum, sterna with posterior directed simple hairs (2–3 OD).

    Surface sculpture. Face polished, weakly imbricate, punctation extremely fine. Clypeal punctation sparse (i=1–3d), except on basal margin (i=d). Supraclypeal area with punctation sparse (i=2–3d). Lower paraocular and antennocular areas with punctation moderately sparse (i=1–1.5d). Upper paraocular area and frons punctation distinctly separated (i=d). Ocellocular area minutely punctate (i=1–2d). Gena polished. Postgena imbricate. Mesoscutum polished, punctation fine, sparse between parapsidal lines (i=2–4d), laterad of parapsidal line (i=2d), and on anterolateral portion (i=1–2d). Mesoscutellum polished, submedial punctation obscure (i=2–3d). Axilla punctate. Metanotum polished. Preëpisternum, hypoepimeral area, and mesepisternum weakly imbricate, punctation sparse (i=2–3d). Metepisternum with dorsal half weakly ruguloso-striate, ventral half imbricate. Metapostnotum imbricate with at most weak basal striations. Propodeum with dorsolateral slope and lateral and posterior surfaces weakly imbricate-tessellate. Metasomal terga faintly coriarious, punctation fine, uniformly spaced on disc (i=1–1.5d), apical impressed area virtually impunctate.

    Structure. Head enormous, very wide (length/width ratio = 0.90–0.93, head to mesosoma width ratio = 1.6). Eyes weakly divergent below to subparallel (UOD/LOD ratio = 0.95–0.99). Labrum enlarged and flattened, apical process without dorsal keel, basal tubercle broad and flat. Mandibles large, scythe-like, subapical tooth absent. Clypeus 1/5 below suborbital tangent, apicolateral margins very strongly convergent. Antennal sockets moderately distant (IAD/OAD < 0.9). Frontal line carinate, ending 3 OD below median ocellus. IOD less than OOD. Median ocellus above upper ocular tangent. Gena very broad, maximum width nearly twice as wide as eye at midpoint. Pronotal dorsolateral angle acute. Pronotal ridge sharply angled, complete, not interrupted by sulcus. Mesoscutum with anteromedial margin broadly rounded, overhanging pronotum. Basitibial plate reduced and lower carina absent. Inner metatibial spur pectinate with 2–3 short teeth. Metapostnotum truncate (MMR ratio = 1.56–1.64), posterior margin broadly rounded onto posterior surface. Propodeum with oblique carina very weak, lateral carina very short. T5 medial specialized area reduced in size relative to nonparasitic females.

    MALE. Similar to female except for the usual secondary sexual characters and as follows. Length 4.20– 4.45 mm; head length 1.18–1.27 mm; head width 1.15–1.22 mm; forewing length 3.05–3.17 mm;

    Colouration. Labrum brown. Flagellum with ventral surface brownish yellow to orange-yellow. Tibial bases and apices orange-yellow.

    Pubescence. Sparse. Lower paraocular area with sparse, subappressed hairs not obscuring surface. S2–S5 lateral portions with weak hair tufts (1–1.5 OD). Surface sculpture. Facial punctation coarse. Metapostnotum longitudinally striate.

    Structure. Head moderately elongate (length/width ratio = 1.00–1.04). Eyes convergent below (UOD/ LOD ratio = 1.31–1.32). Clypeus 1/2 below suborbital tangent, apicolateral margins strongly convergent. Subantennal sutures strongly incurved. Antennal sockets very distant (IAD/OAD = 2.0). Frontal line carinate, ending 2 OD below median ocellus. IOD subequal to OOD. Pedicel subequal to F1. F2 length 1.6–1.7X F1. F2–F10 moderately short (length/width ratio = 1.18–1.44). Gena narrower than eye. Pronotum dorsolateral angles orthogonal. Metapostnotum truncate (MMR ratio = 1.44–1.64), posterior margin weakly angled onto posterior surface.

    Terminalia. S7 with median lobe large, broadly acuminate, apex flat (Fig. 74D). S8 with apicomedial margin weakly convex (Fig. 74D). Genitalia as shown in Fig. 74D–E. Gonobase with ventral arms thick, not evidently separated. Gonostylus small with erect setae, dorsal setae elongate. Retrorse lobe wide, attenuated apically.

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Lasioglossum lionotus, female, propodeum scutum
Deana M. Crumbling · 7
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, propodeum scutum
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, mandibles
Deana M. Crumbling · 6
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, mandibles

Lasioglossum lionotus, female, mandibles 2
Deana M. Crumbling · 6
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, mandibles 2
Lasioglossum lionotus, F, Face, MD, Baltimore County
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Lasioglossum lionotus, F, Face, MD, Baltimore County

Lasioglossum lionotus, female, ocelli
Deana M. Crumbling · 5
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, ocelli
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, hypostomal area
Deana M. Crumbling · 4
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, hypostomal area

Lasioglossum lionotus, female, front wing
Deana M. Crumbling · 4
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, front wing
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, face
Deana M. Crumbling · 2
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, face

Lasioglossum lionotus, female, weak scopa
Deana M. Crumbling · 2
Lasioglossum lionotus, female, weak scopa
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