Brachymelecta Linsley, 1939, previously the rarest North American bee genus, was described from an aberrant specimen and is the senior synonym for Xeromelecta Linsley, 1939

Abstract

The bee genus Brachymelecta Linsley, 1939 has until now been represented by a single specimen, which has puzzled melittologists since its original description as Melecta? mucida Cresson, 1879. Through detailed morphological comparison and images, we show that the holotype is no more than an unusual specimen of a widespread species, most recently known as Xeromelecta californica (Cresson, 1878). We demonstrate that the diagnostic generic features for Brachymelecta fall within the range of morphological variation observed within X. californica. Although the names Brachymelecta and Xeromelecta Linsley, 1939 were published simultaneously, the former was proposed as a genus whereas the latter was proposed as a subgenus of Melecta Latreille, 1802. Thus, the following synonymies are proposed: Xeromelecta syn. nov. under Brachymelecta (since precedence must be given to the name that originally had the higher taxonomic rank) and M.? mucida syn. nov. under B. californica. Additionally, we present updated taxon concepts for and an identification key to the six known species now in Brachymelecta — B. alayoi (Michener, 1988), B. californica, B. haitensis (Michener, 1948), B. interrupta (Cresson, 1872), B. larreae (Cockerell, 1900), and B. tibialis (Fabricius, 1793) — along with redescriptions and a diagnosis for the genus. The male of B. alayoi and females of B. haitensis and B. tibialis are described for the first time. Furthermore, a phylogeny based on combined molecular and morphological data is proposed for Brachymelecta, and the evolution of the genus is explored in a historical biogeographic context.

A checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Manitoba, Canada

“…We document 113 apid species, based on more than 23 000 records, including four species of Anthophora, Apis mellifera, 29 of Bombus, two of Brachymelecta, three of Ceratina, three of Diadasia, Epeoloides pilosulus (Cresson), seven of Epeolus, three of Eucera, three of Holcopasites, 18 of Melissodes, two of Neolarra, 29 of Nomada, and eight of Triepeolus for the province. Four apid genera were newly recorded for the province during this work: Eucera, Triepeolus (see also Wrigley et al 2021), Brachymelecta (see also Onuferko et al 2021), and Neolarra. Many new records come from the cleptoparasitic subfamily Nomadinae, including Holcopasites calliopsidis (Linsley), H. heliopsis (Robertson), Neolarra vigilans Cockerell, and N. mallochi, as well as 19 species of Nomada and eight of Triepeolus.…”

“…No Pseudopanurgus sensu stricto occur in Manitoba, but we implicitly use Protandrena as an umbrella genus for all North American Protandrenini. The following literature was used to identify specimens and determine taxon concepts: Andrena Fabricius: Mitchell (1960); LaBerge (1967,1969,1973,1977,1980,1986,1989); Ribble (1967Ribble ( , 1968Ribble ( , 1974; LaBerge and Bouseman (1970); LaBerge and Ribble (1972Ribble ( , 1975; Bouseman and LaBerge (1979); Calliopsis Smith: Rozen (1958); Mitchell (1960); Shinn (1967); Perdita Smith: Timberlake (1954,1958,1960,1968); Mitchell (1960); Protandrena Cockerell: Mitchell (1960); Timberlake (1967,1973,1975) Milliron (1971Milliron ( , 1973aMilliron ( , 1973b; Laverty and Harder (1988); Williams et al (2008Williams et al ( , 2014Williams et al ( , 2019; Ghisbain et al (2020); Brachymelecta Linsley: Hurd and Linsley (1951); Mitchell (1962); Onuferko et al (2021); Diadasia Patton: Timberlake (1941); Adlakha (1969); Snelling (1994); Eucera: Timberlake (1969); Melissodes Latreille: LaBerge (1956aLaBerge ( , 1956bLaBerge ( , 1961; Mitchell (1962); Holcopasites Ashmead:…”

“…In some cases, "new" records are difficult to define because specimens may be recorded outside of the traditional scientific literature, either in theses (Patenaude 2007;Semmler 2015;Olynyk 2017) or within online databases. In addition, the collaborative nature of our research has meant that some bees first identified as part of this study, including new generic records for the province and new Canadian records, were released early to benefit other studies (Gardner and Gibbs 2021;Onuferko et al 2021;Satyshur et al 2021;Wrigley et al 2021) or were being worked on simultaneously as part of graduate theses (Hanuschuk 2021;Miller 2021;Martini 2022). Our goal is to provide accessible, verifiable data for interesting records, even if there may be an earlier record outside of peer-reviewed publications.…”

“…Relatively few of the studies on wild bees in Manitoba have resulted in peer-reviewed publications (but see Neave 1933;Turnock et al 2006;Semmler et al 2018;Robson et al 2019;Gibbs et al 2021;Olynyk et al 2021). In 2017, research on wild bees at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, began in earnest, the results of which included the discovery of many new provincial records (Semmler et al 2018;Gardner and Gibbs 2021;Onuferko et al 2021;Satyshur et al 2021;Wrigley et al 2021). Among these were new national records and new species, as well as erroneous published records based on misidentified material.…”

The new annotated checklist of the wild bees of Europe (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

“…In the case of Melecta, no large-scale revision has followed the monograph of Lieftinck (1980) on the Palaearctic species, which was published more than 40 years ago. There is no doubt that in-depth genetic and phylogeographic analyses would illuminate taxonomic changes in this poorly studied group of bees, as it has been the case for the closely related bee genus Brachymelecta Linsley in North America (Onuferko et al 2021). In the absence of proper taxonomic revisions and resources to identify these bees, limited verified occurrence data are published, hampering conservation efforts for these rare insects.…”