Three new species of the bee genus <i>Caenaugochlora</i> from Central America and Colombia (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Abstract

Abstract. Three distinctive new species of the augochlorine bee genus Caenaugochlora Michener (Halictinae: Augochlorini) are described and figured as Caenaugochlora (Caenaugochlora) leoi Engel, new species, from Costa Rica, C. (C.) hestia Engel, new species, from Panama, and C. (C.) gonzalezi Engel, new species, from Colombia. The new species are distinguished from among their congeners and the diversity of Caenaugochlora tabulated. In addition, a third subgenus is established within the genus and a revised key to the subgenera proposed. Metaugochlora Engel, new subgenus, is based on two species described earlier from the Andes of Ecuador and that exhibit traits intermediate between Caenaugochlora s.str. and Ctenaugochlora Eickwort. It is possible that these groups would be more suitably treated as individual genera in the future and as our knowledge of the total diversity is refined.

Taxonomy of the New World bee genus Agapostemon Guérin-Méneville – new names and synonymies (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

“…For instance, Osmia (Melanosmia) tersula Cockerell, 1912 (Megachilidae) is typically metallic blue in most of its range (Sandhouse 1939;Mitchell 1962), though black specimens lacking metallic colouration do occur (Rightmyer et al 2010). Many metallic halictid bees show extensive congeneric (e.g., Gibbs 2010Gibbs , 2011Engel 2013Engel , 2014aEngel , 2014b and conspecific (e.g., Ordway 1966) variation in body colouration; Ordway (1966) and Gibbs (2009) indicated that killing agents and other chemicals can alter metallic colouration to some extent. Combining molecular methods such as DNA barcoding to studies of bee taxonomy has proven very useful for recognizing colour variable species (e.g., Sheffield et al 2011;Sheffield et al 2020).…”

The bee genus <i>Caenaugochlora</i> in Venezuela (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

“…The morphological terminology for the description is based on Eickwort (1969), Engel (2000Engel ( , 2001Engel ( , 2009b, and Michener (2007). The format for the description generally follows that used elsewhere in Caenaugochlora (e.g., Engel, 1995Engel, , 1997aEngel, , 2007Engel, , 2009a. Measurements of specimens were made with an ocular micrometer attached to an Olympus SZX-12 stereomicroscope, those of the holotype are provided in the description while those from the paratype, where applicable, are in parentheses.…”

Revision of the bee genus <i>Chlerogella</i> (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), Part IV: A new species from southwestern Colombia

“…Engel and more weakly so in C. (C.) perviridis Engel & Gonçalves (Engel, 1995a;. The function of such a feature is unknown.…”

“…There is a long tradition of such revisions and species-level phylogenies among bees and such work is continually growing in interest and importance (Engel, 2011;Gonzalez et al, 2013), although it is understandable that many groups remain to be investigated in a modern context. Remarkably, for the bee tribe Augochlorini a number of genera have been revised, particularly during the last 20 years, and keys to the species provided -these include Paroxystoglossa Moure (Moure, 1960), Ctenaugochlora Eickwort (Engel, 1995a;), Rhectomia Moure s.l. (Engel, 1995b;Gonçalves, 2010b) Brooks & Engel, 1999;Engel et al, 2006;Engel & Gonzalez, 2009;Engel, 2009a), Ischnomelissa Engel (Engel, 1997, 2013aEngel & Brooks, 2002) et al (Engel, 2013b).…”