Lundiana 4(2):117-120, 2003
© 2003 Instituto de Ciências Biológicas - UFMG
ISSN 1676-6180
Exaerete lepeletieri (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apini: Euglossina):
a new cleptoparasitic bee from Amazonia
Marcio Luiz de Oliveira1 & André Nemésio2,3
1
Coordenação de Pesquisas em Entomologia. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia. Av. André Araújo, 2936, Bairro Petrópolis. Caixa
Postal 478. Manaus, AM. 69.011-970. Brasil. E-mail: [email protected].
2
Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Abelhas, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas
Gerais. Caixa Postal 486, Belo Horizonte, MG. 30.123-970. Brazil. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Abstract
Exaerete lepeletieri sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apini: Euglossina) is described from Amazonia. Its
relationships with the other members of the genus are discussed, including a brief phylogenetic analysis.
Keywords: euglossine, new species, Amazonia.
Introduction
The genus Exaerete Hoffmannsegg (Hymenoptera: Apidae:
Apini: Euglossina) is one of the two genera of orchid bees
which comprise only cleptoparasitic species (Moure, 1964).
They are parasitic on nests of species in the genera Eulaema
Lepeletier and Eufriesea Cockerell, also in the subtribe
Euglossina, although the hosts for some species are unknown
(Kimsey, 1979). Five species are currently recognized in this
genus – although Michener (1990, 2000) has mentioned six and
Silveira et al. (2002) ignored Ex. azteca, considering only four
species.
Moure (1964) has long recognized two “natural” groups in
Exaerete: the first including E. frontalis (Guérin-Méneville)
and E. smaragdina (Guérin-Méneville) and the second
including E. dentata (Linnaeus) and E. azteca Moure. Kimsey
(1979) agreed with this arrangement and considered E.
trochanterica (Friese) to present characters of both species
groups being, thus, an intermediate between them – Moure
(1964) had not examined the latter species.
This basic arrangement was supported by Engel’s (1999)
phylogenetic study, which placed E. frontalis and E.
smaragdina on one branch, and the three remaining species on
another one. The relations among the species in the latter group
remained unresolved.
In this paper a new species of Exaerete from Brazilian
Amazonia is described which closely resembles both E.
smaragdina and E. frontalis.
Received 29.10.2003
Accepted 03.12.2003
Distributed 30.12.2003
Exaerete lepeletieri sp. n.
HOLOTYPE: male, with the following data: “Brasil,
Acre, Rio Branco, 08/XII/1995, M.L. Oliveira, no. 0228” [the
latter on an additional label, handwritten in indelible ink]
(INPA). PARATYPES: BRASIL, ACRE, RIO BRANCO, PZ
[Parque Zoobotânico], 01/III/1994, M.L. Oliveira, 1 male
[label handwritten in indelible ink], det. Camargo, 1995 [as
“Exaerete smaragdina (Guérin, 1845), inf. Moure”] (INPA);
idem, 22/VIII/1994, 08/XII/1995, idem, 2 males (INPA); idem,
Res. [erva] Humaitá, 30/X/1994, 31/X/1994, idem, 2 males
(INPA); idem, 09/09/1996, LUZ, M.M. leg. 1 male (UFMG);
idem, 21/4/1993, 29/4/1993, 14/05/1993, 17/06/1993, 17/06/
1993, E.S. Bezerra, 5 males, numbers, 20, 51, 55, 90 e 207
(UFMG); idem, 24/08/1995, 23/3/1995, 27/7/1995, 01/III/
1993, 20/09/1994, E.F. Morato leg., 9 males, numbers 36, 56,
216, 220, 287, 289, 375, and two ones not numbered (UFMG);
idem, Ent. [rada] Antimari, cineol, 23/9/1994, idem, 2 males
(UFMG); idem, Parque Zoobotânico, 1 male, number 71F, armadilha, cineol, 02/09/1997 (UFMG).
Additional specimens examined and geographic distribution
BRASIL. Roraima: Contá [Serra do], Confiança III, V
[vicinal] 17, 10°45’N 60°30’W, 21-Abr-99, Silva, S.J.R da, 1
male, salicylate [sic] (MIRR-08294 ). Amazonas: Anavilhanas,
15/XI/1989, M.L. Oliveira, 1 male (INPA). Acre: Sena
Madureira, 17/3/1994, 23/3/1994, idem, 2 males, det. Camargo,
1995 [as “Exaerete smaragdina (Guérin, 1845 inf. Moure”]
(UFMG); Plácido de Castro, 20/09/1994, idem, 1 male
3
4
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Museu Integrado de Roraima, Brazil.
%
Oliveira & Nemésio
←
(UFMG). Rondônia: Nova União, 10°50’55.3”S 62°40’02.8”W (linha 40), S10°59.874’ W62°40.231’, 07/03/
97, 01-Setembro-1997, Brown, Boina & Vieira, 3 males, RO14061, RO-14062 e 6072 (INPA); Mirante da Serra, linha 62,
11°03’55.6S - 62°39’55.7”, 15-maio-1997, idem, 1 male, RO9149 (INPA).
Color and vestiture: Uniformly green, with dark blue hues
on thorax and legs and a bluish clypeus. Wings moderately dark
brown, as in other Exaerete species. Pubescence very sparse,
denser than that of E. frontalis, black and white on thorax and
abdomen, predominantly black on thorax and predominantly
white on abdomen; almost completely white near antennal
sockets, on scape, and on ventral side of metasoma. Scape
mostly metallic green.
Figure 1 – Lateral view of the head of Exaerete frontalis, showing the
frontal tubercle (indicated by arrow).
←
Head: Width 6.2 mm; superior interorbital distance 2.2
mm; scape 2.1 mm; eye length 4.3 mm; frons with a small
medial knob (Figs. 1-3).
Body: Body length ca. 22 mm; anterior wing ca. 21 mm;
tongue in repose reaching S-III; labial palpus two-segmented;
scutellum 4.5 mm wide and 2.1 mm long, with a median low
longitudinal tubercle between small lateral tubercles; scutellar
posterior margin straight (Fig. 4) ; hypoepimeron with knob;
abdominal width 7.8 mm.
Legs: Foretibia and forebasitarsus fringed with long,
dense, fulvous and black hairs; mesotibia inflated; hindtibia
with hairy glandular scar reaching apex and splitting it in two
teeth; hindtibia slightly depressed basally (Fig. 5).
Figure 2 – Lateral view of the head of Exaerete lepeletieri sp. n.,
showing the small frontal tubercle (indicated by arrow).
Abdomen: Tergum VII with longitudinal impunctate
stripe; sternum VII trilobed - median lobe depressed relative to
lateral ones, with setae covering apical margin of lobed section,
setae on median lobe longer and darker (Fig. 6); apex of
sternum-VIII lobed medially; gonostylus subtriangular laterally
and completely clothed in dense setae, as in E. frontalis (see
Kimsey, 1979:744); gonocoxal lobe obtusely angulate laterally,
very similar to that of E. smaragdina (see Kimsey, 1979:744).
Etymology: The specific epithet is in honor of Amédée
Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau.
Attractive baits: Holotype collected in a cineole trap;
paratypes collected attracted to cineole or methyl salicylate
baits.
Female: Unknown.
Figure 3 – Lateral view of the head of Exaerete smaragdina, showing
no frontal tubercle.
&
Diagnosis: This species is very similar to both E. frontalis
and E. smaragdina, from which it can be readily distinguished
for combining specific characters of both species such as frons
with a small medial knob (in E. frontalis it is very pronounced;
in E. smaragdina it is absent) and median longitudinal tubercle
present in the scutellum (as in E. smaragdina, but subtly less
pronounced; absent in E. frontalis). The male hindfemur is
slightly depressed basally (it is strongly depressed in E.
frontalis and not depressed in E. smaragdina). It also presents a
longitudinal impunctate stripe in the tergum VII, and a straight
A new cleptoparasitic bee from Amazonia
Figure 4 – Dorsal view of the scutellum of Exaerete lepeletieri sp. n.
Figure 6 – Dorsal view of the sternum VII of Exaerete lepeletieri
sp. n.
scutellar posterior margin, characters which are not present
neither in E. frontalis nor in E. smaragdina.
Discussion
The hypothesis that this species could be a hybrid between
E. frontalis x E. smaragdina was initially considered by one of
us (AN), given the intermediate characters and the fact that E.
lepeletieri sp. n. is rarer than the other two species. Both E.
frontalis and E. smaragdina also occur in the Atlantic Forest
and Bonilla-Gómez (1999) collected them in good numbers in
northern Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil. Part of
Bonilla-Gómez’s material is deposited at Coleção Entomológica
of the Departamento de Zoologia of the Universidade Federal
de Minas Gerais and these bees were examined. No individuals
similar to E. lepeletieri sp. n. were found among them as one
Figure 5 – Hind femur of Exaerete lepeletieri sp. n.
might expect if hybridism was involved. Unfortunately,
however, Bonilla-Gomez (1999) did not collect most of the
bees attracted to the baits, since she identified the bees in the
field, releasing them afterwards. So, only the few voucher
specimens (some 20 Exaerete) were seen.
One of the paratypes E. lepeletieri sp. n. was sent to Dr.
Gabriel A. R. Melo, at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, and
he could compare it to other Exaerete species in that collection.
According to him (pers. comm. to AN), some E. lepeletieri sp.
n. individuals from western Amazonia were found identified as
E. smaragdina. This resemblance between E. lepeletieri sp. n.
and E. smaragdina reinforces the need of taxonomic studies
among Euglossina, especially on Amazonian species, since
Roubik (in press) also found sibling species of Euglossa
(subgenera Glossura and Glossuropoda) to occur in Amazonia,
and Oliveira (2000) has noted the same for the genus Eulaema.
In order to establish the phylogenetic affinities of E.
lepeletieri sp. n., we used the same matrix and characters
provided by Engel (1999). The data were submitted to
Hennig86 (Fabris, 1988) for analysis using the ie* command.
Three trees resulted of length 22, CI 0.77, and RI 0.88. The
topology resulting from this analysis is identical to that
obtained by Engel (1999:10), with the addition of E. lepeletieri
sp. n. to the clade composed by E. smaragdina and E. frontalis.
With the characters used the exact relations among these three
species remained unresolved.
A full revision of the genus was not possible, since several
hototypes of Exaerete species are lost. The type of E. frontalis
(female) is lost, according to Moure (1967) and Kimsey &
Dressler (1986). The holotype of Exaerete lucida Erichson, a
male, considered by Moure (1967) and Kimsey & Dressler
(1986) as a junior synonym of E. frontalis, is also lost. There is
no reference to the author of this synonymy. The same happens
to Exaerete aurata Erichson (holotype female, lost, junior
synonym of E. smaragdina). Exaerete cyanescens Cockerell,
holotype female, is also considered a junior synonym of E.
smaragdina (Moure, 1967, Kimsey & Dressler, 1986).
'
Oliveira & Nemésio
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Dr. David W. Roubik for sharing his
unpublished manuscript and for reading and commenting on
earlier versions of this manuscript. Dr. Fernando A. Silveira
helped with phylogenetic analysis. Dr. Gabriel A. R. Melo
made valuable comments on the paratype sent to him. Elder
Ferreira Morato made more than 3,000 orchid bees collected in
Acre state available to us. Henrique Corrêa Giacomini kindly
prepared the illustrations and Jaime Bertoluci prepared the final
art. José Albertino Rafael, Francisco Limeira de Oliveira and
Marcio Cutrim helped us with the photographs.
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