Rediviva steineri Kuhlmann, 2012, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kuhlmann, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Melittidae
Rediviva
Rediviva steineri

description: Rediviva steineri sp. nov.
(Figs 1 a–d, 5)
Diagnosis. The female of R. steineri can be separated from the other Rediviva species of the summer rainfall region (including R. whiteheadi) by a combination of the following characters: malar space short (Fig. 1 b), T1–2 black (Fig. 1 d), foreleg elongate, much longer than midleg and with tarsal pilosity orange-brown (Fig. 1 a), scopa orange, prepygidial fimbria bicoloured, dorsally blackish and laterally orange.
In the key to the Rediviva species of the summer rainfall region of eastern South Africa and Lesotho (Whitehead et al. 2008) R. steineri runs to R. pallidula Whitehead & Steiner but it can easily be distinguished from that species by the bicoloured, laterally orange prepygidial fimbria (laterally whitish in R. pallidula) and the abundant appressed orange hairs that form apical tergal hair bands (white tergal hair bands in R. pallidula) and cover the discs of T2–3 (few white erect hairs in R. pallidula) (Fig. 1 d).
Description. Female. Bl = 12.0–13.0 mm. Head. Head wider than long. Integument black except tips of mandible partly dark reddish-brown. Face sparsely covered with long, whitish-grey to brown, erect hairs (Fig. 1 b). Clypeus convex in profile, apically impunctate; medially covered with large punctures that become gradually smaller and denser towards the upper end; surface between punctures shiny (Fig. 1 b). Malar area medially narrow, almost linear. Antenna black, ventrally dark reddish-brown. Mesosoma. Integument black. Mesoscutal disc between punctures smooth and shiny; disc densely (i = 0.5–1.0d) and finely punctate (Fig. 1 c). Mesoscutum, scutellum, metanotum, mesepisternum and propodeum covered with long orange-brown erect hairs, on the disc of mesoscutum a few black hairs intermixed. Wings. Yellowish-brown; wing venation dark brown. Legs. Foreleg long, 11.0–12.0 mm (femur–claw) (Fig. 1 a). Integument black, tibia and tarsi partly red-brown. Vestiture orange, scopa orange, sometimes with black hairs on the apical half of the hind basitarsus. Metasoma. Integument black. T1 anteriorly with a few long erect orange hairs (Fig. 1 d); T2–T3 covered with long appressed orange hairs on T4 intermixed with black hairs; apical tergal hair band missing on T1, on T2–T4 broadly orange (Fig. 1 d). Prepygidial fimbria dorsally black, laterally orange, pygidial fimbria orange-brown to black. T1 impunctate, polished and shiny, T2–T4 superficially and minutely punctate, shiny (Fig. 1 d).
Male. Unknown.
Type material (3 specimens). Holotype, female, “South Afr., C.P., Farm Doornbosch, 3224AA [24°10'E 32°10'S], elev. 1580m, 30 Mar 1988, K. Steiner 2114 / Diascia capsularis 1146 / SAM-HYM-B 010631 ” (SAMC). Paratypes: 1 Ƥ, South Africa, Mountain Zebra National Park, 3225AB [25°20'E 32°10'S], 1580m, 24.iii.1988, K. Steiner / Diascia capsularis / SAM-HYM-B 010632 (SAMC); 1 Ƥ, South Africa, ca. 8km NW of Molteno, 3126AD [26°25'E 31°20'S], 1680m, 25.iii.1988, K. Steiner / Diascia capsularis / SAM-HYM-B 010633 (RCMK).
Etymology. This species is dedicated to Kim Steiner who in collaboration with the late Vin Whitehead is one of the pioneers investigating plant-pollinator interactions in oil-collecting Rediviva bees and their host plants.
General distribution. Higher grounds west of the Drakensberg Mountains in the northern part of the Eastern Cape Province (Fig. 5).
Floral hosts. All specimens were collected on Diascia capsularis (Scrophulariaceae).
Seasonal activity (first–last observations). III.
description: Published as part of Kuhlmann, Michael, 2012, Two new species of the South African endemic bee genus Rediviva Friese (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae), pp. 71-78 in Zootaxa 3517 on pages 73-74, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.282611