Centris (Paracentris) aterrima Smith 1854
Creators: name: Vivallo, Felipe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Centris
Centris aterrima

description: Centris (Paracentris) aterrima Smith, 1854
Centris aterrima Smith, 1854. 378.
Type data: This species was described based on males collected in an undetermined locality in Mexico. A syntype is housed at NHMUK and is here designated the lectotype. The specimen has the following data label: Type H. T. [red-rimmed circular label, printed]\ B.M. TYPE HYM. [printed] 17B.902. [handwritten]\ [circular label] 48 13 [handwritten]\ Centris aterrima Smith. Type. [handwritten]\ aterrima Sm. Type [handwritten]. The lectotype is in good condition and is coded BMNH (E) 968165 in the NHMUK data portal.
Type locality: Mexico.
Centris (Melanocentris) anomala Snelling, 1966. 31. New junior synonymy
Type data: This species was described based on a male specimen collected in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico. The holotype is currently housed at CAS and has the following data label: Mexico: 8 mi. S. Guadalajara, Jal. [printed] late Sept. [handwritten] 1954 F. W. Williams [printed]\ California Academy of Sciences Type No. [printed] 6681 [handwritten]\ [red label] Holo [handwritten] type Centris [printed] anomala ♂ [handwritten] R. R. Snelling [printed].
Type locality: Mexico: Jalisco state: Guadalajara.
Comments: The type locality of C. aterrima cannot be further narrowed down than to Mexico. The real identity of this species was unknown for a long time due to the lack of study of its primary type. This confusion increased and it was somehow consolidated with the work of Snelling, who included specimens with this name identified by him in the keys for the species of C. (Paracentris) published in 1966, 1974 and 1984. It is evident that Snelling never saw any primary type of C. aterrima and that he assumed its identity based on the original succinct description made by Smith (1854). In 1966, Snelling described C. anomala based on specimens of both sexes collected in Mexico. The female has highly modified oil-collecting structures (elaiospathes) which Snelling highlighted by choosing the specific epithet he used for the description of the species. The lack of study of the type specimens of C. aterrima, as well as the lack of alternative keys to that published by Snelling (1966, 1974, 1984) perpetuated the problem of interpretation of both species. The study of the type material of C. aterrima showed that it corresponds to the male of C. anomala making the latter a junior synonym of C. aterrima. Considering this, it is coherent to assume that some of the references published between 1896 and 1951 cited by Moure et al. (2007) for C. aterrima may be mixed with the Snelling’s misidentified species. All uses of C. aterrima after 1966 belong to other species and those published after the same year using the name C. anomala in fact belong to C. aterrima. The Snelling’s misidentified species correspond to a new species which is described below.
description: Published as part of Vivallo, Felipe, 2020, Lectotype designations taxonomic notes and new synonymies in some species of the bee genus Centris Fabricius, 1804 described by Frederick Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), pp. 151-176 in Zootaxa 4729 (2) on page 163, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4729.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3632239