Sphecodopsis papilla Eardley 2007
Creators: name: Pöllein, Daniela
name: Kuhlmann, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Sphecodopsis
Sphecodopsis papilla

description: Sphecodopsis papilla Eardley, 2007
Figs 71–72
Sphecodopsis papilla Eardley, 2007: 194–195, holotype ♀ (type locality: Nieuwoudtville, Flower Reserve East, South Africa) (SANC), examined.
Diagnosis
The female of S. papilla can be separated from that of all other species by the combination of the following characters: S6 bifid posteriorly, apical notch three times as long as its apical width, more or less spatulate, shape as shown in Fig. 72C; body length 3.5–5.8 mm; metasoma partially red (Fig. 71B); fore tibia and tarsi usually black (Fig. 71A); T6 covered with black hair (Fig. 72B); head and mesoscutum with black hair, partially mixed with white hair (Fig. 71C). The male is unknown.
Additional material examined (3 specimens)
SOUTH AFRICA • 1 ♀; N Cape, Fynbos, 15 km NW of Nieuwoudtville, Farm Engelsepunt; 31°14′31″ S, 18°59′08″ E; 830 m a.s.l.; 23–26 Jul. 2003; KT leg.; RCMK • 1 ♀; 12 km NW of Nieuwoudtville, Farm Avontuur, Renosterveld along Pad; 31°15′27″ S, 19°03′38″ E; 770 m a.s.l.; 11 Jun. 2013; MK leg.; RCMK • 1 ♀; Nieuwoudtville, Hantam Botanical Garden, Renosterveld; 31°24′03″ S, 19°08′34″ E; 700 m a.s.l.; 23 May 2013; MK leg.; RCMK.
Description
Female
BODY LENGTH. 5.4–5.8 mm.
HEAD. Head wider than long. Vertex slightly rounded, ocelli highest point. Integument black, except part of mandibles red or reddish-brown. Face covered with fairly long, black hair mixed with short, white hair, with patches of white hair above the antenna. Face with dense (i=0.25–0.5 d) and fine but deep punctation, supraclypeal area with fine and more dispersed (i=0.5–1 d) punctation (Fig. 71C). Surface between punctures slightly shiny. Antenna black.
MESOSOMA. Integument black, tegula orange, partially translucent. Mesoscutum slightly shiny. Mesoscutum and mesoscutellum densely (i =0.5–1 d), finely and shallowly punctate (Fig. 71D). Propodeum with dense (i=0.25–0.5 d), fine and shallow punctation, metapostnotum finely carinate (Fig. 72A). Mesoscutum, mesoscutellum, metanotum, propodeum and mesepisternum sparsely covered with long, black hair mixed with short, white hair, metapostnotum glabrous (Figs 71D, 72A).
WINGS. Yellowish; wing venation brown and stigma brown to dark brown (Fig. 71A).
LEGS. Integument black. Coxa, trochanter and femur sparsely covered with fairly long, black hair mixed with short, white hair. Tibia and tarsi covered with short, white hair mixed with short, black hair (Fig. 71A).
METASOMA. Integument of T1–T4 red, T4 to a variable extent red, from only basal quarter red to only marginal zone black; T6 black. T1 and T2 with few short, white hairs mixed with short, black hair, from T3 increasingly more and longer hair (Fig. 71B). T6 broad and rounded apically, densely covered with short, black hair and shorter, white hair underneath (Fig. 72B). Shape of S6 (Fig. 72C) as illustrated.
Male
Unknown.
Distribution
Only known from the vicinity of Nieuwoudtville.
Host bees
Unknown.
Seasonal activity
May–July, September (Eardley 2007).
Comment
Potentially, S. chrysea sp. nov. is the unknown male of S. papilla as both were collected in autumn in the same area.
description: Published as part of Pöllein, Daniela & Kuhlmann, Michael, 2025, Taxonomic revision of the southern African bee genus Sphecodopsis Bischoff, 1923 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Nomadinae), pp. 1-157 in European Journal of Taxonomy 980 on pages 93-95, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2025.980.2805, http://zenodo.org/record/14981767