Xylocopa (Schonnherria) metallica Smith 1874
Creators: name: Villamizar, Germán
name: Fernández, Fernando
name: Vivallo, Felipe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Xylocopa
Xylocopa metallica

description: Xylocopa (Schonnherria) metallica Smith, 1874
(Figures 39–42, 78)
Xylocopa metallica Smith, 1874: 292.
Diagnosis. The female can be recognized by the following combination of characters: large body size (body length ~ 22 mm), integument dark brown to black with slightly blue highlights on head and mesoscutum and greenish on mesoscutellum and metasoma; base of labrum with a distinct, large, single capitate tubercle approximately as large as median ocellus; scattered whitish hairs on face, gena and lateral sides of T2–T4 and S3–S5, and yellowish on discs of T3–T6 and posterior half of S4–S6; metasoma with coarse and dense punctation, and short simple hairs, longer on T4–T6.
Morphology. Female (Figs. 39–42). Measurements (mm): Approximate body length: 21.5 (22); head width: 6.8 (7.4); mesosoma width: 9 (9.7); metasoma width: 10 (10.5); forewing length: 15 (15.7). Coloration: Integument predominantly dark brown to black with slightly blue highlights on head and mesoscutum and greenish on mesoscutellum and metasoma. Tegula dark brown with bluish highlights. Wings dark brown with violet iridescence. Pubescence: Dark brown to black except ferruginous on labrum and ventral surface of basitarsi; yellowish on discs of T3–T6 and posterior half of S4–S6; whitish on face, gena and lateral sides of T2–T4 and S3–S5. Short simple and plumose hairs inter-mixed on paraocular area and lower half of clypeus (0.7–1.5x OD), simple hairs longer on lower gena (1–4x OD) and few scattered hairs of short length (0.5–0.8x OD) or nearly glabrous on vertex and upper gena. Mesosoma with scattered plumose and simple hairs, denser on mesepisternum and glabrous on mesoscutal disc and anterior half of mesoscutellum. Metasoma with long, decumbent, simple hairs grouped in tufts on lateral sides, longer and more abundant apically; discs of T1–T3 with erect, short and dense simple hairs (0.2–0.4x OD) barely noticeable medially and denser on lateral sides; longer and denser simple hairs than anterior terga on T4–T6 (0.5–1.1x OD); sterna with long and dense hairs on posterior half. Surface sculpture: Fine and scattered circular punctures on vertex and upper gena (2–3x puncture width), coarser and denser towards paraocular area and lower half of clypeus (0.5–1x puncture width); “T” shaped smooth surface on upper margin of clypeus. Mesoscutum with scattered circular punctures (2–4x puncture width), denser near tegula and glabrous on mesoscutal disc; mesonotal line conspicuous with less length to half of mesoscutum, parapsidial lines short and poorly defined; mesoscutellum with fine and scattered punctation (2–3x puncture width), denser and coarser posteriorly. Metasomal terga strongly imbricate, sparser medially on discs of T1–T3; sterna with coarse and dense punctures mostly on posterior half. S tructures: Head broader than long (1.3: 1); compound eyes with similar inner margins; ratio of upper and lower interocular distances 0.8–0.9: 1; maximum interocular distance almost equal than eye length (0.9–1: 1); clypeus broader than long (2.3: 1) with similar length to clypeocellar distance (0.8: 1); interalveolar distance less than alveolocular distance (0.7: 1); interalveolar distance almost equal to alveolocellar distance (0.8–0.9: 1); vertex broad, lateral ocellus below supraorbital line (1–1.1x OD); interocellar distance shorter than ocellocular distance (0.6–0.7: 1). Frontal carina at lower level of antennal sockets with less size than scape length (0.3x OD). Upper half of clypeus with upper margin of the epistomal suture inconspicuous. Base of labrum with a distinct, large, single capitate tubercle approximately as large as median ocellus. Mesoscutellum rounded (lateral view). Metanotum and propodeum subvertical (lateral view).
Floral records. See Table 2.
Type material. Holotype female (NHMUK, examined).
Type locality. BRAZIL: Pará: Belém.
Distribution in Colombia (Fig. 78). Meta: La Macarena.
Material examined (n= 1♀). COLOMBIA: Meta: 1 female: La Macarena, Caño Curía, N3°25’, W73°57′, 900 m, 07-Oct-1986, F. Romero, LABUN006369, 2978 (LABUN).
Comments. The metasomal pubescence of the single specimen here studied differs in comparison to that observed in the holotype. In this latter specimen there is yellowish pubescence on laterodistal margin of T2 and on discs of T3 – T6, while the Colombian specimen has yellowish pubescence on discs of T4 – T6 and few yellow hairs on T3. A single specimen determined by P. D. Hurd housed in NMNH and two specimens deposited in MPEG of X. metallica were also studied and their similarity with the Colombian specimen as well as with the holotype is evident. This species has been found mainly in the Boreal Brazilian dominion (sensu Morrone, 2014) and the male is still unknown.
description: Published as part of Villamizar, Germán, Fernández, Fernando & Vivallo, Felipe, 2020, Synopsis of the carpenter bee subgenus Xylocopa (Schonnherria) Lepeletier, 1841 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Colombia, with designation of lectotypes and the description of two new species, pp. 301-347 in Zootaxa 4789 (2) on pages 319-321, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4789.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3887576