Exaerete salsai Nemesio, sp. n.
Creators: name: Nemésio, André
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Exaerete
Exaerete salsai

description: Exaerete salsai Nemésio, sp. n.
Diagnosis. Exaerete salsai sp. n. is clearly related to the E. dentata species group due to the following characters: hypoepimeron without knob, labial palpus four-segmented, scutellar posterior margin not convex. It can be further attributed to the E. trochanterica species subgroup since its glandular slit is long, reaching apex. Nevertheless, Exaerete salsai sp. n. can be readily distinguished from both E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae by the following characters: bluish green overall coloration (golden green in both E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae —see Fig. 2 G– H); mesoscutal line forming a deep depression or sulcus (in E. trochanterica it may form a slight depression or even a slight elevation—see Fig. 2 G–H); when seen from behind, the mesoscutal line of Exaerete salsai sp. n. shows a strip of black setae throughout (this strip of setae is absent in E. trochanterica); disc of mesoscutum with predominantly black setae (predominantly fulvous setae in both E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae); dense punctation on mesoscutal disc, particularly between the notauli and the mesoscutal line (sparser punctation in both E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae).
Description (Male, Figs. 2–3, measurements are those of the holotype). Color and vestiture. Uniformly bluish green, with dark blue hues on head and mesoscutum (Fig. 2 A, B, G). Wings dark brown, as in other Exaerete species. Pubescence sparse, predominantly black, denser than that of E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae; scape metallic green.
Head. Width 6.8 mm; maximum interorbital distance 4.2 mm; scape 2.1 mm; eye length 4.1 mm; frons without a medial tubercle.
Body. Body length ca. 25.7 mm; anterior wing ca. 23.9 mm; tongue in repose reaching S-1; labial palpus foursegmented; scutellum 4.2 mm wide and 2.4 mm long, with two longitudinal lateral tubercles; scutellar posterior margin straight (Fig. 2 B); hypoepimeron without a knob (Fig. 2 E); abdominal width 8.3 mm.
Legs. Foretibia and forebasitarsus fringed with long, dense, fulvous and black hairs; mesotibia inflated; metatibia with hairy glandular scar reaching apex and splitting it in two teeth (Fig. 2 D). Note: basitarsus of the right hind leg was removed from the holotype, the paratypes from Prado and Santa Maria do Salto, as well as the entire hind legs of two paratypes from Itamaraju, for DNA extraction.
Metasoma. T1-T7 bluish green, covered with sparse black setae (denser on T6-T7) (Fig. 2 F); S7 strongly bilobed, incised medially (not as deep as in E. kimseyae —see Kimsey 1979: 744 as E. trochanterica – but not as superficial as in E. trochanterica— see Anjos-Silva & Rebêlo 2006, as E. guaykuru), with setae covering apical margin of lobed section, but without the transverse row of setae centrally (Fig. 3 A), as seen in E. kimseyae; apex of S8 rounded (Fig. 3 B); gonostylus subtriangular laterally and clothed in dense setae, as in E. trochanterica; gonocoxal lobe with a projection, very similar to that of E. trochanterica, volsella ovoid, well developed (Fig. 3 C–E). Note: S7 and S8 were partially damaged during the dissection process, but general characters were not affected (Fig. 3 A–B).
Punctation. Head: frons and clypeus densely punctated, with large (1.2 to 1.4 mm in diameter) round punctures. Mesoscutum: dense punctation proximally, becoming sparser distally; round punctures ranging from 0.04 to 1.0 mm in diameter; punctation particularly dense on the area between the notauli and the mesoscutal line (sparse punctation in both E. trochanterica and E. kimseyae). Scutellum: moderately dense punctation, round punctures ranging from 1.2 to 1.4 mm in diameter. Metasoma: proximal half of T1 non-punctated; distal half of T1 and T2-T7 very densely punctuated, with minute (0.0 5 mm long) elongated punctures.
Female. Unknown.
Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym honoring the Brazilian ornithologist Marcelo Ferreira de Vasconcelos, the “Salsa”.
Type locality. The holotype was attracted to and collected at a trans -methyl-cinnamate bait at Parque Nacional do Monte Pascoal (16°33’S – 39°25’W; ca. 100 m above sea level), municipality of Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, on the 15th of December, 2008.
Type material. HOLOTYPE: male, with the following label data: “Euglossina da Hileia Baiana, PN Monte Pascoal, 18954-54268”, and “Porto Seguro, BA, Brasil, 15/12/2008, A. Nemésio” (UFMG). PARATYPES: six males, with the following label data: “Euglossina da Hileia Baiana, PN Descobrimento, 18961-54279”, and “Prado, BA, Brasil, 15/01/2009, A. Nemésio” (UFMG); “Euglossina da Hileia Baiana, RPPN Duas Barras, 18571-53280”, and “S[an]ta Maria [do] Salto, MG, Brasil, 03/02/2011, A. Nemésio” (UFMG); “Permuta UFMG / MNRJ, 18962- 54280” and “Itamaraju, BA, Brasil, Outubro/1985, P. Becker & O. Roppa” (UFMG); “idem, 18962-54281” and “idem” (MNRJ); “idem, 18962-54282” and “idem” (MNRJ); “idem, 18962-54283” and “idem” (MNRJ).
Attractive baits. Holotype attracted to a trans -methyl-cinnamate bait; paratypes attracted to cineole (paratype #18571-53280) or methyl salicylate (paratype # 18961-54279) baits. There is no information on the scents that attracted the specimens collected in Itamaraju in 1985, although it is known that only three scents were used by the collectors: cineole, eugenol, and methyl salicylate (P. Becker, pers. comm.). In comparison, E. trochanterica is only attracted to methyl salicylate to date (Kimsey 1979; Anjos-Silva & Rebêlo 2006). There is no information on the scents attractive to E. kimseyae (see Oliveira 2011).
Geographic distribution. Only known from the southernmost portion of the state of Bahia and the neighbor region of Santa Maria do Salto, in the state of Minas Gerais. It is noticeable that the forest patches in Santa Maria do Salto are situated at ca. 1,0 0 0 m above sea level, whereas the remaining areas where this species was collected are situated approximately at sea level.
description: Published as part of Nemésio, André, 2011, Exaerete salsai sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Apidae): a new orchid bee from eastern Brazil, pp. 12-20 in Zootaxa 2967 on pages 14-17, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.205169