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

Neopasiphaeine bees (Apoidea: Colletidae) are known for their Amphinotic distribution in the Australian and Neotropical regions. Affinities between colletid taxa in Australia and South America have been speculated for decades, and have been confirmed by recent phylogenetic hypotheses that indicate a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ
Main Authors: Eduardo A.B. Almeida, Fábio B. Quinteiro
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2015
Subjects:
R
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1338
https://doaj.org/article/6cda1328198b43079e0e717dcc31c72e
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Summary:Neopasiphaeine bees (Apoidea: Colletidae) are known for their Amphinotic distribution in the Australian and Neotropical regions. Affinities between colletid taxa in Australia and South America have been speculated for decades, and have been confirmed by recent phylogenetic hypotheses that indicate a biogeographic scenario compatible with a trans-Antarctic biotic connection during the Paleogene. No neopasiphaeine species occurs on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, but the Neotropical species Hoplocolletes ventralis (Friese, 1924) was described as an Australian taxon due to an error in the specimen labels. This mistake was recognized by CD Michener 50 years ago. We herein report that the same labeling problem also happened with Dasycolletes chalceus Friese, 1924, which remained as a tentatively placed species in the Australian genus Leioproctus until now. Moreover, Dasycolletes chalceus is interpreted as a synonym of Hoplocolletes ventralis. We also provide a revised diagnosis for Hoplocolletes, describe the male of H. ventralis in detail for the first time, including a comparative study of its genitalia and associated sterna.