A group of two: Scrapter peringueyi is not a synonym of Scrapter heterodoxus (Hymenoptera, Colletidae, Scraptrinae)

Abstract

Scrapter is a genus of colletid bees with a primary distribution centered in Southern Africa. The genus currently comprises 68 recognized species, which are divided into nine species groups, ranging from one to 29 included species. The Scrapter heterodoxus group is presently considered to be the only monotypic group, because of synonymization of Scrapter heterodoxus with Scrapter peringueyi in a previous revision of the genus. A comparative examination of these two species using both morphological assessment and molecular sequence data from the COI barcode region supported the recognition of S. peringueyi as a valid species, which we accordingly resurrect as the second species of the Scrapter heterodoxus species group. We provide high resolution images of the type specimens for both species and updated diagnoses to enable their separation from all other species of Scrapter.

Revision of the nitidus species group of the bee genus Scrapter Lepeletier & Serville, 1828 (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

“…In this paper, we redefine and revise the Scrapter nitidus species group, which has the most complicated taxonomic history of the genus, as already recognized by Cockerell (1935). Currently, Scrapter Lepeletier & Serville, 1828 comprises 77 described species (Eardley 1996;Davies et al 2005;Davies & Brothers 2006;Kuhlmann 2014Kuhlmann , 2021Kuhlmann & Friehs 2020;Bossert & van Noort 2022) and is readily recognizable in sub-Saharan Africa because it is the only abundantly hairy colletid bee genus with two submarginal cells in the forewing (Michener 2007). Eardley (1996) first introduced and defined species groups in Scrapter based on a relatively small number of species and specimens available in those days.…”