Folia Entamo!. Mex. 87:43-48 (1993) A NEW COLLETES FROM MEXICO (HYMENOPTERA: COLLETIDAE) 1 CHARLES D. MICHENER Snow Entomological Museum, Snow Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-2119, USA. ABSTRACT. The new species Colletes everaertae, a Mexican member of the group of C. simulans Cresson, is described and illustrated. KEY WORDS: Taxonomy, new species, Colletes, Colletidae, Hymenoptera, Mexico. RESUJ\1EN. Se describe e ilustra a la nueva especie Colletes everaertae, integrante mexicana del grupo C. simulans Cresson. PALABRAS CLAVE: Taxonomía, especie nueva, Colletes, Colletidae, Hymenoptera, México. To better document an ecological and behavioral account of a species of Colletes by Catalina Everaert of the Centro de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1 here name the Colletes on which she has worked. To simplify comparison with other Colletes, 1 ha ve followed the descriptive style of Stephen (1954). The words pile and hair are used interchangeably for the long hairs of body and legs. Abbreviations used are Tl, etc., for first (etc.) metasomal tergum, S1, etc., for the stema. Colletes everaertae new species Figs. 1-3 Colletes sp. Everaert, 1990: 24-92. This is a member of the group of C. simulans as understood by Stephen (1954). In the long distal part of the male gonostylus (about as long as the basal part) in combination with the long hairs on the inner surface of the basal part, it agrees only with C. simulans Cresson, 1868; C. angelicus Cockerell, 1905; C. fulgidus Swenk, 1904; and C. lineata Metz, 1910. The e1ongate and apically expanded lobes (plates) of S7 of the mal e are similar to those of these four species as well as C. rufocinctus Cockerell, 1929. The remaining species of the group all have the lobes of S7 rounded or tapering apically and mostly do not have the combination of gonostylar features mentioned above. Except for C. angelicus, the species listed above all have 1 Contribution number 2098 from the Department of Entomology, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Michener: A new Colletes from Mexico acute prothoracic spines, short in rufocinctus (which differs in the male gonostyli as indicated) and in sorne specimens offulgidus. In C. angelicus the spine is truncate; the apex seen from above is broader than a tlagellar diameter and consists of an arched carina, the posterior end of which (on the posterior margin of the spine) is below the anterior end (or anterior margin of the spine) and extends laterally beyond the anterior end so that the truncation is somewhat oblique. The surface below the apex of the spine is concave. In C. everaertae the spine is also truncated but not obliquely so, the apex seen from above is narrower than a flagellar diameter; there is no arched carina across the apex, the posterior margin of the spine is at the same leve! as the anterior margin, and the surface below the apex of the spine is not or scarcely concave. Alternatively the spine can be described as absent and replaced by a narrow right angular projection. The apex of the truncation seen from above is often concave, and in a few specimens the anterior apical angle is produced as a short but sharp spine. In Stephen's (1954) key, the male runs best to couplet 26 and to C. fulgidus although the malar space is only half as long as broad. The female runs best to couplet 16 and C. fulgidus orto couplet 33 where it does not agree with either of the species. Other features by which C. everaertae differs from species listed above include its large size and the tlat, transparent blades projecting from the apex of the baso lateral projection of the lo be of S7. Male: Length 10-12 mm; forewing Jength 8.0-8.5 mm. PiJe offace long, yellowish white, paler below, concealing facial surface except apical part of clypeus and upper part of frons partially exposed; vertex with pile ochraceous intermixed with dusky; upper genal area with yellowish white pije, lower genal and hypostomal areas with pile long and white; scutum and scutellum with pile ochraceous intermixed with black; upper parts of side of thorax and long, dense lateral propodeal fringe with pile ochraceous, grading to white below, hair of legs yellowish white, rusty on undersides oftarsi; Tl with long yellowish white hair, sparse dorsally, lateral fringe white, extending to apical facia which is complete, white; T2-6 with strong, white apical fasciae, that of T6 narrow; T2 with hairs of disc dusky, T3-7 with hairs of discs black, progressively longer on more posterior terga; lateroventral parts of T2-6 with hairs very short and white; S1 with long white hair, S2-5 with hairs short, forming strong apical fringes (white on S2, yellowish posteriorly, brassy on S5); lateral hairs on S5 sometimes dusky; S6 with short hairs dusky, laterally with small tuft of long, dusky brownish or blackish hairs often partly hidden by S5. Antenna black, middle tlagellar segments about 1.3 times as long as broad; malar space half as long as broad; clypeus with strong, longitudinally slightly elongate punctures, dense and fine on depressed longitudinal median line, preapically on either side of this line widely scattered so that there are convex shiny areas, 44
Folia Entomol. Mex. 87 (1993) 1 Figures 1-3. Dorso-ventral views of maje structures of Colletes everaertae Michener. 1, Genitalia; 2, eighth stemum with apical process also in lateral view, its dorsal margin at left; 3, seventh stemum. elsewhere rather dense; vertex finely punctate, with shiny interspaces in ocellocular area. Prothoracic spines short, narrowly truncate, as described in introductory paragraph; mesoscutum shining, strongly punctate, anteriorly and laterally punctures separated by about a puncture width, on discal area punctures very widely separated, 45
Michener: A new Colletes from Mexico thus almost impunctate; scutellum largely similarly smooth, narrow lateral and posterior margins densely punctate; mesepistema with punctures almost as coarse as those of scutum, almost as dense as they can be, somewhat smaller and denser anterior! y, lower margin of hypoepimeral area impunctate, shining; propodeum with basal area divided by longitudinal carinae into longitudinally elongate pits; posterior surface shining, coarsely roughened; tegula blackish; wings grayish hyaline, veins and stigma brownish black; legs black, tibia! spurs pale brown, posterior basitarsus over four times as long as broad. T1 shining, distinctly punctate, punctures mostly separated by 1.5 to 2.0 puncture widths, finer and more widely separated near base of dorsal surface and nearly impunctate on most of anterior surface, apical margin simple, not thickened; T2 with punctures mostly separated by less than a puncture width; following terga with punctures finer, folliculate; posterior margins of T2 to T6 depressed, shining, with only scattered minute punctures; base of T2 slightly depressed; stema shining, minutely folliculate especially toward posterior margins; S6 with gentle lateral convexity behind which is folliculate area, otherwise surface largely impunctate, basolateral tuft of very long hair present; genitalia, S7 and S8 as in illustrations. Female: Length 11-12 mm; forewing length 8-9 mm. Pile of face pale ochraceous, not obscuring surface, a few black hairs intermixed on upper part of clypeus and on supraclypeal area and on paraocular area; pile of vertex black with sorne pale hairs intermixed; pile of upper genal area ochraceous, grading to white below; scutum and scutellum with hairs mixed black and ochraceous (about half each color); pile of mesepistemum pale ochraceous above, grading to white below, that of propodeum including fringe white; legs with pile pale ochraceous, grading to white on coxae and to brassy on undersides of tarsi; sorne dusky hairs intermixed along posterior margin of hind tibia; long hairs on anterior side of hind femur light reddish brown; T1 with pi le white, sparse except laterally, lateral fringe dense, white, extending almost to fascia, apical fascia white, narrow or interrupted medially; T2 with basal white fascia; T2-5 with apical white fasciae; T2-6 with hairs of discs black, short and absent mid-dorsally on T2, progressively longer and more abundant on succeeding terga; S1 with yellowish white pile; S2 with plumose, sloping, whitish pile of moderate length; S3-5 without erect hairs, discs bare; S2-5 with weak apical dull whitish fringes, almost interrupted medially; S5 with sorne of hairs of fringe long, dusky; S6 with most hairs black. Stipes shagreened; malar space about one-fourth as long as wide; antennae black, middle flagellar segments about as wide as long; clypeus coarsely strigose-punctate to apex, interspaces forming shining longitudinal ridges, longitudinal median line depressed, more fine! y and closely punctate; vertex with punctures fine, almost absent on much of shiny ocellocular area. Prothoracic spines as in male (see introductory paragraph); 46
Folia Entamo!. Mex. 87 (1993) thoracic sculpturing as in male but punctures of scutum denser near anterior margin, mesepistemal punctures in most areas as dense as possible, propodeal enclosure with longitudinal carinae farther apart and more irregular than in male so that pits are wide and sorne are irregular; tegula, wings, and leg coloration as in male; anterior coxal spine absent; posterior surface of hind femur impunctate below dorsal fringe of long hair; hind basitarsus about four times as long as wide. Metasomal punctation as in maje but mostly finer, T1 on disk with punctures mostly separated by at least two puncture widths; S6 with narrow posterior marginal impunctate zone, depressed, especially strongly so (and broader) at side of stemum. Holotype male, allotype female, and 37 male and 32 female paratypes: San Pablo Atlazalpa, Estado de México, taken in front of adobe walls in which they were nesting. The holotype was taken on Aug. 25, 1988 at 15:20 hr (J. M. Labougle); the allotype was taken on the same day at 14:30 hr (C. Everaert). Male paratypes were taken on Aug. 14 and 24, 1987; Sept. 4, 24, and 25, 1987; Oct. 5, 12, and 16, 1987; Aug. 25, 1988; Sept. 8, 9, 12, and 24, 1988; one with no date; and two labeled Sept., 1987. Female paratypes were taken on Aug. 24, 1987; Sept. 4, 8, 9, 11, and 25, 1987; Oct. 7, 12, 16, and 20, 1987; Aug. 25, 1988; Sept. 8, 1988; and one Jabeled Sept., 1987. Two additional maje paratypes: same Jocality, one on flowers of Jpomoea tricolor, September 12, 1987, the other on Simsia amplexicaulis and Bidens odorata, September 8, 1988. Collectors were C. Everaert, J. M. Labougle, J. Castrejón, and l. Zarazua. Dr. Terry L. Griswold tells me that he has material of this species from the state of Hidalgo. The holotype and allotype are in the Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Paratypes are in the Snow Entomological Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence; the National Museum of Natural History, Washington; the American Museum of Natural History, New York City; and the Bee Research Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan. Several species of Mexican Colletes are unplaced or types are unknown to me, but none is the same as C. everaertae to judge by descriptions. C. lineo/ata Metz (male) was rather well described and figured and differs from C. everaertae in the Jonger flagellar segments (twice as long as broad), the Jack of black hair on the thorax, the strongly punctured scutellum, the densely hairy basolateral projections of the lo bes of S7, etc. Unfortunately the prothoracic spines were not described and the present Jocation of the type is unknown. The following species may not be members of the simulans group. They ;L e more or Jess ordinary Jooking Colletes described long ago from females (or the association of males is uncertain) and the maje genitalic characters are unknown. They differ from C. e,eraertae in the characters indicated. Colletes perplexus Smith, 1879: no black hairs mentioned on vertex or thorax; antenna fulvous beneath; tegula paje rufotestaceous. C. intricatus 47
Michener: A new Colletes from Mexico Smith, 1879: no black hairs mentioned on vertex or thoracic dorsum but fuscous beneath wings and in tibial scopa; no pubescent fasciae on metasoma. C. grisellus Michener, 1989 (= C. griseus Smith, 1879): pubescence griseus; tibial scopa fuscous above; metasomal hair bands very narrow, white. C. aztecus Cresson, 1868: no black hairs on dorsum; flagellum testaceous beneath. C. mexicanus Cresson, 1868: hind tibia with dense black hairs. Dr. Terry Griswold kindly compared specimens of C. everaertae with type material of Mesoamerican Colletes in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History, the California Academy of Sciences, and the University of Nebraska, and agrees that none is the species here named. Using the name Colletes sp., Everaert (1990) described the natural history of Colletes everaertae in sorne detail. The season of flight is from late August to early October. Nests are irregularly horizontal burrows in adobe walls, in aggregations so dense that it is sometimes difficult to excavate individual burrows because ofproximity of and interconnections with adjacent old and new nests. There is evidence of reuse of burrows made in previous years. Sometimes severa! females use the same entrance. Cells of the usual colletid membranous material, up to five per burrow, are in series occupying the distal ends of burrows. Many burrows, however, contain only one to three cells, suggesting that a female may make cells in two or more burrows during her life. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted for specimens of Colletes everaertae to Catalina Everaert M. and her associates at the Centro de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Dr. Terry L. Griswold generously shared with me results of his study of Mesoamerican Colletes types, and indicated certain characters worth adding to the description. Donna Stevens inked the drawings; Joetta Weaver and Virginia Ashlock edited and typed the manuscript. This study is a by-product of National Science Foundation Grant BSR87-16817. REFERENCES EVERAERT, M. C. 1990. Biología de Tres Especies Gregarias de Abejas. Tesis para Biólogo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, [8] + 120 pp. STEPHEN, W. P. 1954. A revision of the bee genus Colletes in America north of Mexico. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 36:149-527. Recibido: 28 febrero 1992. Aceptado: 7 abril 1992. 48