Anthophora expleta Vachal 1910

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Abstract

Anthophora expleta Vachal, 1910 (Fig. 7) Anthophora expleta Vachal, 1910a: 324. Amegilla (Aframegilla) nila Eardley, 1994: 5, n. syn. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Malawi • 1♂; Ntchisi Forest;25.XII.1974; H. R. Feijn leg.; T.J Wood det. (C. D. Eardley 2015 det. as Amegilla nila); RMNH, ZMA.INS.1240875. Tanzania • 1♀; Usambara, Nguelo [Ngwelo]; MNHN-EY-EY58547 (lectotype by present designation) • 1♀; Tanganyika, Morogoro;1963; Br.Ananias Denis leg.; T. J. Wood det.; RMNH, ZMA.INS.834652. CURRENT STATUS. — Amegilla (Aframegilla) expleta (Vachal, 1910). DISTRIBUTION. — Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi*, Zimbabwe (Vachal 1910a; Cockerell 1919; Eardley 1994, as Amegilla nila). REMARKS Vachal described a male specimen from “Mbiliwa À Wantu” [now within Lubumbashi] and a female from Nguelo, Usambara. He indicated that the male was from the MRAC collection, but that the female was in “ ma collection ”. Brooks (1988: 515) placed Anthophora expleta into the genus Amegilla, but left it as incertae sedis as he did not locate the type material. Eardley & Urban (2010: 441) stated that both male and female syntypes were present in the MRAC collection, but this is false, as Vachal explicitly stated that the female was in his collection. Searches in the MNHN collection located this female which bore a handwritten Vachal label (Fig. 7A), and it can be recognised as an Amegilla (Aframegilla) species due to the abundant power-blue metallic pubescence on the tergal margins. The female is hereby designated as the lectotype, and the recognition of Amegilla expleta as part of the subgenus Aframegilla means that it is senior to Amegilla (Aframegilla) nila Eardley,1994 n. syn. This latter taxon was described based on one female and four males from the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe (not examined) and the key diagnostic feature was indicated to be the restriction of metallic-blue pubescence to the tergal margins only, rather than extending also onto the tergal discs as in Amegilla (Aframegilla) caelestina (Cockerell, 1919) and Amegilla (Aframegilla) cymatilis Eardley, 1994 (Eardley 1994: 3, 7), and also Amegilla (Aframegilla) caerulea (Friese, 1905). This character of tergal discs free of metallic hairs is clearly present in the lectotype of Amegilla expleta, with the recognition of this synonymy aided by the presence of a male from Malawi in the RMNH collection which was determined by Eardley as Amegilla nila, and which helps fill the distributional gap between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. In light of the original description combined with the comments of Cockerell (1919: 118) who highlighted that “ Anthophora expleta ” was one of “several [African] species of Anthophora with more or less blue colour on the abdomen”, it is unclear why Brooks placed Amegilla expleta as incertae sedis.

Authors 1

1. Thomas James Wood corresponding Aachen Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR, Leiden (the Netherlands)