Habropoda mimetica disconota Lieftinck, 1974

Habropoda mimetica disconota Lieftinck, 1974 View in CoL , new status

( Figs. 1–4 View Fig View Fig View Fig View Fig )

Habropoda disconota Lieftinck, 1974: 185 View in CoL .

The original type of H. disconota in the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden was not examined. The recently collected Vietnamese material is treated herein.

Material examined. VIETNAM: 2 females, 3 males, Cao B ằng Province, Trà Lĩnh District, Thang Hen lake , 22°45′48″N, 106°17′38″E, alt. 611 m, coll. Liên Th ị PhƯƠng Nguy ễn, Ngát Th ị Tr ần, CƯờng Quang Nguy ễn, 3.viii.2022 [1 female, 2 males in IEBR; 1 female, 1 male in AMNH] GoogleMaps ; 4 females, 1 male, Cao B ằng Province, Trà Lĩnh District, Thang Hen lake , 22°45′46.7″N, 106°17′36″E, alt. 593 m, coll. Liên Th ị PhƯƠng Nguy ễn, Anh Đ ức Nguy ễn, Ngát Th ị Tr ần, 18.ix.2023 GoogleMaps ; 1 female, SƠn La Province, Yên Châu District , MƯ ờng Lựm Commune , 21°01′03.9″N, 104°29′59.5″E, alt. 798 m, coll. Đại Đắc Nguy ễn, 19.vi.2015 [ IEBR] GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. H. mimetica disconota is separated from the nominate form as follows: in females, black medio-horizontal setal band on mesoscutum longer, about twice as long as anterior yellow-orange setal band (black medio-horizontal setal band on mesoscutum shorter, about as long as anterior bright yellowish tawny setal band in H. m. mimetica ); basal half of tergum III with black setae, remainder with yellow-orange setae intermixed with some black setae (tergum III wholly with bright orange setae in H. m. mimetica ); metatibia with conspicuous, much denser, black scopal setae and longer than greatest breadth of metatibia (metatibia with relatively short, black scopal setae, and not exceeding greatest breadth of metatibia in H. m. mimetica ); sterna II–IV apically with blackish setae (sterna II–IV apically with light yellow setae in H. m. mimetica ); sterna II–V of males with light yellow-orange setae (sterna II–V of males with pure white setae in H. m. mimetica ); sternum VII of males with broad lateral lobes of disc more distal, lobes at transverse proximal tangent of discal setae and apical margin at base of rod-like process concave (sternum VII of males with broad lateral lobes of disc more proximal, lobes basad transverse proximal tangent of discal setae and apical margin at base of rod-like process straight in H. m. mimetica , refer to Lieftick, 1974: fig. 5); sternum VIII of males with apical margin more blunt and straight medially with broad angle separating posteriorly sloping margins laterally (sternum VIII of males not blunt medioapically, with continuous curve between lateral sloping margins and apical margin in H. m. mimetica , refer to Lieftinck, 1974: fig. 5).

Redescription. Female: Total body length 15.5–16 mm, forewing length 12–12.5 mm. Body robust ( Fig. 1A, B View Fig ). Head broader than long, about 1.4× as broad as long. Compound eyes large and bulging. Clypeus slightly convex in profile, broader than long, about 1.7× as broad as long ( Fig. 2A View Fig ). Labrum subrectangular, 1.6× as broad as long, with relatively broad, deep medio-apical emargination ( Fig. 2B View Fig ). Mandible bidentate. Scape slender, approximately 4× as long as broad, flagellomere I longest, flagellomere II shortest, length of flagellomere I about 3× flagellomere II, flagellomere III little longer than flagellomere II, flagellomeres IV–IX subequal in lengths, flagellomere X longer than individual lengths of flagellomeres IV–IX ( Fig. 2C View Fig ). Mesosoma approximately as broad as long ( Fig. 2D View Fig ). Forewing subhyaline, with three submarginal cells, first and third submarginal cells broader than second submarginal cell, 1m-cu entering near apex of second submarginal cell ( Fig. 2E View Fig ). Metasoma plump ( Fig. 2F View Fig ). Pygidial plate with lateral margins straight and gradually converging to rounded apex ( Fig. 2G View Fig ).

Clypeus with relatively dense, wrinkled punctures in apical half and laterally, punctures separated by 0.5–1.5 puncture width except impunctate medio-basal area; supraclypeal area with small, dense punctures separated by 0.5× puncture width except impunctate medio-apical area ( Fig. 2A View Fig ); labrum with dense, contiguous, coarse punctures ( Fig. 2B View Fig ); paraocular area with smaller punctures than those on clypeus, punctures separated by 0.5× puncture width; frons with small, dense, near contiguous punctures; vertex with elongate, dense punctures separated by 0.5–1× puncture width and puncture size larger than those on frons; lateral margin of lateral ocellus shiny, impunctate ( Fig. 2D View Fig ); gena with dense punctures separated by 0.2–0.5× puncture width, punctures coarser than on frons. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum with round, dense, contiguous punctures, size of punctures larger than those on frons. Metasomal terga with round, dense punctures separated by a puncture width, size of punctures equal to punctures on mesoscutum; sterna with punctures and shallower than those of terga, sterna with wrinkled punctures in apical halves.

Body brownish black to black except as follows: mandible dark yellowish apically; labiomaxillary complex ferruginous; supraclypeal area with crescentic yellowish mark bordering frontoclypeal portion of epistomal sulcus ( Fig. 2A View Fig ); flagellomeres III–X dark ferruginous ventrally ( Fig. 2C View Fig ); legs and sterna dark ferruginous to black.

Setae on body plumose except for simple setae mostly found on clypeus and labrum. Clypeus with short, sparse, yellow setae except on the laterals, where the setae are long, sparse, blackish plumose. Labrum with yellow setae, setae a little longer and denser than those on clypeus. Paraocular area with sparse, short, yellow setae, above antennal torulus with long, blackish setal tuft ( Fig. 2A View Fig ). Frons with short, sparse, yellow setae intermixed with tuft of dense, blackish plumose setae. Inner space between ocelli with dense, blackish setal tufts ( Fig. 2A View Fig ). Vertex with long, blackish setae ( Fig. 2D View Fig ). Occiput with long, dense, blackish setae. Gena from below compound eye to mid-height of eye with long, dense and yellowish setae, and from there to near the top of eye mixed with blackish setae. Mesoscutum with yellow-orange setae except by a black medio-horizontal setal band between tegulae, about twice as long as yellow-orange anterior setal band, mesoscutellum with light yellow-orange setae except black setal tuft baso-laterally ( Fig. 2D View Fig ). Tergum I with yellow-orange setae except by the black setae apically, tergum II black setae, tergum III black setae on basal half, remainder of tergum III and tergum IV wholly with yellow-orange setae intermixed with some black setae; tergum V with black setae basally, dark brown setae apically; terga II–IV apical margins with yellow-orange setal bands ( Fig. 2F View Fig ).

Male. Total body length 15–15.5 mm, forewing length 11–11.5 mm. Mandible bidentate, teeth relatively round apically, apical tooth little longer than preapical tooth ( Fig. 3B View Fig ); scape about 3× as long as broad, flagellomere I approximately 2.7× length of flagellomere II, flagellomeres III–X subequal in lengths, flagellomere XI about 1.3× length of flagellomere III ( Fig. 3C View Fig ); tergum VII with apical margin nearly straight ( Fig. 3F View Fig ). Sternum IV subrectangular, with long, dense setae apically ( Fig. 4A View Fig ); sternum V with apical width narrower than basal width and with long, dense setae apically ( Fig. 4B View Fig ); sternum VI gradually narrowed toward apex, with tuft of short setae ( Fig. 4C View Fig ); sternum VII with broad lateral lobes of disc more distal, lobes at transverse proximal tangent of discal setae and apical margin at base of rod-like process concave ( Fig. 4D View Fig ); sternum VIII with apical margin more blunt and straight medially with broad angle separating posteriorly sloping margins laterally ( Fig. 4E View Fig ). Male gonostylus with the dorsal process long, slender, narrowly rounded apically, with some relatively long setae, and the ventral process narrow spatulate, with some short setae on mesal margin and patch of gonotrichia on ventral surface near mesal margin ( Fig. 4F–G View Fig ).

Sculpturing as described for female except punctures of clypeus smaller and fainter.

Integument black except labiomaxillary complex dark ferruginous; mandible dark ferruginous except dark yellow apically; clypeus yellow except teardrop-shaped reddishbrown stain medio-laterally (sloping from anterior tentorial pit) and black at lateral borders, apical margin brown ( Fig. 3A View Fig ). Supraclypeal area with broad yellow crescent mark bording sulcus, thicker than that of female ( Fig. 3A View Fig ). Flagellomere I apically and flagellomeres II–XI ventrally dark ferruginous ( Fig. 3C View Fig ). Legs dark brown to black (ferruginous on apical tarsomeres and in some areas ventrally), pretarsal claws black apically.

Pubescence generally paler on male than in female ( Fig. 1C, D View Fig ); terga III–IV with much thicker setal bands apically than those of female ( Fig. 3E View Fig ).

Remarks. Initially, while collecting bees we accidentally used slightly too much ethyl acetate and this resulted in the setae becoming matted particularly on the metasoma. Thus, the setae were stuck together and became discoloured when dried. This left the setae of terga II–IV in females appearing black (as Lieftinck (1974) mentioned in his key, p. 175). On a subsequent excursion, by reducing the amount of ethyl acetate, setae on the body were kept drier and the true colours of this subspecies were preserved and illustrated (see Figs. 1–3 View Fig View Fig View Fig ). We observed the morphology of the females collected from northern provinces, and found that they perfectly matched the description of H. disconota by Lieftinck (1974). Moreover, upon dissecting sterna VII–VIII and the genitalia of associated males from the same location, these structures appeared remarkably similar to Lieftinck’s (1974: fig. 5, 6) illustrations of male genitalia of H. mimetica (see also Wu, 2000: fig. 172). The differences are minor and we believe it is best to consider H. disconota as a geographical subspecies of H. mimetica .

Distribution. Vietnam (Northern).

Floral association. Females and males were collected on flowers of Rubus alceifolius Poir. and Rubus sp. ( Rosaceae : Rosoideae ) ( Fig. 20A, B View Fig ). These plants often grow in bushes at forest edges in relatively humid locations. The bees often visit flowers that are quite high up or other hard-to-reach locations and, likewise, easier to escape from in case of attack. Like most Anthophorini bees, they are exceptionally quick, making capture on the wing challenging.