Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4442 No. 1: 29 Jun. 2018
Type: Article
Published: 2018-06-29
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4442.1.3
Page range: 63–82
Abstract views: 173
PDF downloaded: 147

A new species of Lepidotrigona (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Thailand with the description of males of L. flavibasis and L. doipaensis and comments on asymmetrical genitalia in bees

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Graduate School, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. Center of Excellence in Bioresources for Agriculture, Industry and Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada.
Hymenoptera Asymmetry L. satun n. sp. L. ventralis stingless bees taxonomy Trigona

Abstract

We describe Lepidotrigona satun Attasopa and Bänziger new species from southern Thailand based upon associated males and females (workers). The new species is a member of the L. ventralis species group, which is otherwise represented in Thailand only by L. flavibasis and L. doipaensis. We also describe the males of the latter two species, associated with nests from close to their type localities in northern Thailand. Lepidotrigona doipaensis Schwarz and L. flavibasis (Cockerell) had previously often been misidentified as L. ventralis (Smith), a species confirmed only from Borneo. Based upon differences in male morphology, especially of the metasomal sterna, we conclude that the male described from Vietnam by Sakagami (1975) as belonging to L. flavibasis represents an undescribed species. Our findings support previous taxonomic studies that highlight the importance of including males in the differentiation of closely related species of meliponines and their association with workers. The three species whose males we describe have asymmetric penis valves with the asymmetry differentially developed among the three. We compare this genitalic asymmetry with that known from a different apid genus, Tarsalia.

 

References

  1. Aguiar, A.P. & Gibson, G.A.P. (2010) The spatial complexity in describing leg surfaces of Hymenoptera (Insecta), the problem and a proposed solution. Zootaxa, 2415, 54–62.

    Ascher, J.S. & Pickering, J. (2017) Discover life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). Available from: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide =Apoidea_species&flags=HAS (accessed 9 November 2017)

    Baker, D.B. (1998) Taxonomic and phylogenetic problems in Old World eucerine bees, with special reference to the genus Tarsalia Morawitz, 1895 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophoridae). Journal of Natural History, 32, 823–860.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939800770441

    Bänziger, H., Pumikong, S. & Srimuang, K. (2011) The remarkable nest entrance of tear drinking Pariotrigona klossi and other stingless bees nesting in limestone cavities (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 84, 22–35.
    https://doi.org/10.2317/JKES100607.1

    Camargo, J.M.F. & Moure, J.S. (1994) Meliponini Neotropicais: Os gêneros Paratrigona Schwarz, 1938 e Aparatrigona Moure, 1951 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Arquivos de Zoología, 32, 33–109.
    https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2176-7793.v32i2p33-109

    Camargo, J.M.F., Grimaldi, D.A. & Pedro, S.R.M. (2000) The extinct fauna of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in Dominican amber: Two new species and redescription of the male of Proplebeia dominicana (Wille and Chandler). American Museum Novitates, 3293, 1–24.

    Cockerell, T.D.A. (1929) Descriptions and records of bees. —CXX. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 10, 4, 584–594.

    Dollin, A.E., Dollin, L.J. & Rasmussen, C. (2015) Australian and New Guinean stingless bees of the genus Austroplebeia Moure (Hymenoptera: Apidae)—a revision. Zootaxa, 4047 (1), 1–73.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4047.1.1

    Eberhard, W.G. (1985) Sexual selection and the evolution of animal genitalia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 244 pp.

    Engel, M.S., Alqarni, A.S. & Shebl, M.A. (2017a) Discovery of the bee tribe Tarsaliini in Arabia (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with the description of a new species. American Museum Novitates, 3877, 1–28.
    https://doi.org/10.1206/3877.1

    Engel, M.S., Michener, C.D. & Boontop, Y. (2017b) Notes on Southeast Asian stingless bees of the genus Tetragonula (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with the description of a new species from Thailand. American Museum Novitates, 3886, 1–17.
    https://doi.org/10.1206/3886.1

    Gonzalez, V.H. & Griswold, T. (2011) Two new species of Paratrigona and the male of Paratrigona ornaticeps (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Zookeys, 120, 9–25.

    Gonzalez, V.H. & Griswold, T. (2012) New species and previously unknown males of neotropical cleptobiotic stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Lestrimelitta). Caldasia, 34, 227–245.

    Halcroft, M.T., Dollin, A., Francoy, T.M., King, J.E., Riegler, M., Haigh, A.M., & Spooner-Hart, R.N. (2016) Delimiting the species within the genus Austroplebeia, an Australian stingless bee, using multiple methodologies. Apidologie, 47, 76–89.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-015-0377-7

    Michener, C.D. (2007) The bees of the world. Second edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, xvi + 953 pp.

    Rasmussen, C. (2008) Catalog of the Indo-Malayan/Australasian stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini). Zootaxa, 1935, 1–80.

    Rasmussen, C. (2013) Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) of the Indian subcontinent: Diversity, taxonomy and current status of knowledge. Zootaxa, 3647 (3), 401–428.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3647.3.1

    Sakagami, S.F. (1975) Stingless bees (excl. Tetragonula) from the continental Southeast Asia in the collection of Bernice P. Bishop museum, Honolulu (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI, Zoology, 20, 49–76.

    Sakagami, S.F. (1978) Tetragonula stingless bees of the continental Asia and Sri Lanka (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI, Zoology, 21, 165–247.

    Sakagami, S.F. & Inoue, T. (1987) Stingless bees of the genus Trigona (subgenus Trigonella) with notes on the reduction of spatha in male genitalia of the subgenus Tetragonula (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Kontyû, 55, 610–627.

    Schwarz, H.F. (1939) The Indo-Malayan species of Trigona. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 76, 83–141.

    Smith, F. (1857) Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects collected at Sarawak, Borneo; Mount Ophir, Malacca; and at Singapore, by A. R. Wallace. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 2, 42–88, pls. 1–2.
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1857.tb01759.x

    Strand, E. (1913) [H. Sauter's Formosa-Ausbeute] Apidae I (Hym.). Supplementa Entomologica, 2, 23–67.

    Van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (1950) The delimitation of Malaysia and its main plant geographical divisions. Flora Malesiana 1, 70–75.

    Woodruff, D.S. (2003) Neogene marine transgressions, paleogeography, and the biogeographic transitions on the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Journal of Biogeography, 30, 551–567.
    https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2003.00846.x