Liphanthus domeykoi Sharifi & Graham & Packer 2019, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Sharifi, Negar Mir
name: Graham, Liam
name: Packer, Laurence
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Andrenidae
Liphanthus
Liphanthus domeykoi

description: Liphanthus domeykoi Packer, sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 35094FE5-FBEB-4D87-AE84-3687047464EA
Figs. 31–33, 133.
Diagnosis. Males of this species can be differentiated from all others of the genus by the combination of two submarginal cells, metasomal sterna yellow and all trochanters yellowish to yellow-brown ventrally Figs. 31 & 33). Other species with two submarginal cells and yellow metasomal sterna have the trochanters blackish except for, at most, a small apicoventral yellow spot (Figs. 10 & 20).
Description. Holotype Male: Dimensions: Approximate body length: 3.3mm; head width: 1.25mm, wing length: 2.3mm, intertegular width: 0.67mm.
Coloration: Black to dark brown with following parts yellow: labrum, mandible (except apex orange-red), clypeus, lower paraocular area below from basal 1/5 of outer subantennal suture, subantennal sclerite (except upper 1/5), pronotal lobe, anterior spot on tegula, large apical mark on procoxa, small apical mark on mesocoxa, ventral surface of metacoxa, ventral surface of all trochanters (weakly suffused with pale brown), apical ring on all femora, all tibiae (except brown mark on ventral surface, all basitarsi and second tarsomeres (third yellow-brown, fourth orange-brown, pretarsi brown), ventrally reflexed portions of metasomal terga, T7 and S2–S6. Ventral surface of flagellum dark yellow, dorsal surface red-brown to orange-brown. Apical impressed areas of metasomal terga amber, narrowly margined with orange anteriorly.
Sculpture: Yellow portion of face and narrow strip on lower paraocular area adjacent to compound eye weakly imbricate, shiny; black portion of face mostly minutely and densely tuberculate, dull except supraclypeal area below lower tangent of antennal sockets less dull; clypeus and subantennal sclerite punctures mostly large, i=0.5–1.5d; lower paraocular area punctures somewhat more dense; supraclypeal area punctures obscure, shallow; punctures on rest of face and vertexal area shallow, difficult to detect among coarse imbrication; genal and hypostomal area weakly imbricate, shiny; punctures shallow, irregularly spaced, i=1–6d. Mesosoma imbricate, generally dull; mesoscutum punctures shallow, irregularly spaced, i=1–3d; scutellum less strongly imbricate, sparsely punctate, i>2d; metanotum dull, densely punctate, i=0.5–d; hypoepimeral area weakly imbricate, somewhat shiny, with scattered shallow punctures; rest of mesopleuron imbricate, somewhat shiny, punctures sparse, i>2d; metapostnotum rugose; propodeum coarsely imbricate. Metasomal terga strongly imbricate, dull, punctures obscure, imbrication somewhat weaker on more posterior terga; metasomal sterna weakly imbricate, shiny; punctures minute, scattered.
Pubescence: Generally white, sparse with short branches; ~1.5 MOD on most of head and mesosoma, longer on scutellum and mesopleuron, ~2 MOD; short and laterally oriented on dorsal surface of metapostnotum; simple, short, laterally oriented on metasomal terga.
Structure: Head: Shorter than wide (72:81). Mandible length to basal depth 52:22, gradually narrowing towards rounded apex; lower margin at midlength with erect pencil of branched hairs, branches long and only on one side of rachis, outer ridge lamellate. Labrum rectangular ~ 1.5 X as broad as long (30:19). Clypeus ~ 1.7 X as wide as long (68:38); apicolateral and apicomedial margins almost straight. Outer subantennal suture strongly curved near base, otherwise straight, inner suture straight, sutures convergent below, subantennal sclerite widest near base; epistomal suture weakly curved between inner subantennal sutures. Anterior tentorial pit below junction of outer subantennal and epistomal sutures by less than minimum diameter of F1. Frontal line weak. IAD> AOD (19:16). Inner margin of compound eyes convergent below, UOD:LOD 83:69. Facial fovea small, elongate, 3X longer than wide, parallel to inner margin of compound eye. IOC ~= OOC 24:25. Scape 1.75 X as long as greatest width (20:12), equal to pedicel and F1 combined (17); pedice, F1 and F2 each as long as wide (8:8), remaining flagellomeres longer than wide (both F11s distorted).
Mesosoma: (Mesoscutum anterior margin obscured by head in sole specimen). Length of scutellum: metanotum: metapostnotum: 24:13:16. Marginal cell as long as distance between its apex to wing tip (60:60). Metatibial spurs weakly curved at apices, posterior spur longer (15:12). Pro- and mesotarsal claws cleft. [Apical metatarsomeres missing in sole specimen.]
Metasoma: Broadest just anterior to midlength of T2. Pygidial plate absent. Genitalia not dissected in the sole specimen known.
Female: Unknown
Material examined. Holotype male: CHILE, Region III, 15.5km W. of Domeyko, -28.96813 -71.02254, 602m, 17.x.–6.xi.2015, bvt, L. Packer. The specimen is at PCYU but will be sent to MNHN pending completion of ongoing studies of the Chilean melittofauna.
Etymology. The species is named after Ignacy Domeyko, a 19 th century Polish geologist who spent most of his life in Chile and who was a great humanitarian, for example, expressing considerable sympathy for the plight of Chilean miners. The small town of Domeyko, named after him, is just east of the type locality, but the geological features named after him: the cordillera Domeyko and Domeyko basin are much further north.
Comments. This species may fail at couplet 3 in Ruz and Toro (1983) if the tibial spurs are considered strongly curved because the vertex is convex; if the spurs are considered not strongly curved then difficulty is experienced with couplet 16 where the concave metasomal sterna render decisions on the form of the apical margins of S3 and S4 difficult to make.
This species is currently known from a single specimen from an area with a number of interesting and rare bees, most noteworthy being the monotypic tribe Nolanomelissini and its genus and species Nolanomelissa toroi Rozen 2003, the type locality of which is only ~ 15km distant. That only a single specimen is known despite considerable collecting effort in the area, including extensive vane and pan trapping over extended durations, suggests that this species is either rare or has very specialized habits.
description: Published as part of Sharifi, Negar Mir, Graham, Liam & Packer, Laurence, 2019, Fifteen new species of Liphanthus Reed (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) with two submarginal cells, pp. 1-80 in Zootaxa 4645 (1) on pages 18-19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4645.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3345447