Bombus (Alpigenobombus) rainai Williams 2022
Creators: name: Williams, Paul H.
name: An, Jiandong
name: Dorji, Phurpa
name: Huang, Jiaxing
name: Jaffar, Saleem
name: Japoshvili, George
name: Narah, Jaya
name: Ren, Zongxin
name: Streinzer, Martin
name: Thanoosing, Chawatat
name: Tian, Li
name: Orr, Michael C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae
Bombus
Bombus rainai

description: 4. Bombus (Alpigenobombus) rainai Williams, 2022
Figs 49‒53, 109
Bombus (Alpigenobombus) rainai Williams, 2022a: 132.
Bombus (Alpigenobombus) kashmirensis ‒ Williams 1991: 66, (in part) misidentification.
Species-taxon concept and variation
The taxon concept of the species B. rainai here agrees with the recent interpretation (Williams 2022a) that it is separate from the taxon concept of the species B. kashmirensis (see the comments above on B. kashmirensis), based on: (1) our PTP analysis supports independent species-level coalescents in the COI gene (Fig. 12); corroborated by (2) diagnostic morphological character states (see the keys).
This taxon was discussed as divergent from B. kashmirensis by Williams (1991: 68‒69, figs 308‒310), although it was not then named as a separate species.
Although the PTP and morphological results (Fig. 12, keys) support the interpretation that B. rainai and B. kashmirensis are separate species (Williams 2022a), the available COI-barcode-like sequences may all be low-divergence neonumts (Fig. 11).
Variation of B. rainai is shown in the colour-pattern diagrams in Figs 49‒53. Bombus rainai, with its white-banded red-tailed colour pattern in the Himalaya, appears to mimic the abundant B. (Sibiricobombus) longiceps Smith, 1878 (until recently regarded as part of B. asiaticus Morawitz, 1875), and similar species (Williams 2007: fig. 5l).
Type material
Bombus (Alpigenobombus) rainai Williams 2022a: 132. Holotype by original designation: ♀ (queen) Kashmir, India (ZSC). Examined.
Morphological diagnosis
Female
Wings nearly clear with veins dark brown, hair medium length, oculo-malar area shorter than broad, clypeus adjacent to the labrum slightly raised in the centre so that the transverse anterior groove is interrupted, this central area with few small punctures and more shining than the surrounding areas, oculo-ocellar area in its outer half with only a few small shallow punctures, any larger punctures confined to the eye margin (cf. B. kashmirensis); hair of the side of the thorax in no more than its upper third white and the scutellum predominantly black, hair of T5 entirely orange without obviously paler tips.
Male
Wings nearly clear with veins dark brown, hair medium length, oculo-malar area shorter than broad; genitalia (Fig. 109) with the gonostylus long and distally near its midline axis convexly rounded, length on its outer side about a quarter as long as on its inner side with the two inner corners of the distal lobe rounded, the margin between them convex, penis-valve head strongly recurved, the recurved hook much longer than broad and narrow, tapering gradually to the apex (cf. B. kashmirensis); male eye distinctly enlarged relative to female eye; hair of the side of the thorax with black and white intermixed, but often predominantly black in its lower half, hair of the sides of T5‒6 orange, hair of T3 often predominantly orange.
Material sequenced in Fig. 12
INDIA • 1 ♀ (queen); Kashmir, Achoora; 34.636° N, 74.864° E; 26 Jun. 2009; R. Raina leg.; BOLD seq: 1552E01; ZSC: AG#080 • 1 ♀ (queen); Kashmir, Apharwat; 34.055° N, 74.386° E; 21 Aug. 2009; R. Raina leg.; BOLD seq: 1552D12; ZSC: AG#081.
Global distribution
Western Himalaya: Pakistan, India (Kashmir): NHMUK, PW, ZSC.
This species is recorded at elevations of 2542‒4200 m, primarily above the tree line and high into the alpine zone (Williams 1991).
Behaviour
Male eye distinctly enlarged relative to female eye: males are expected to show ‘cruising’ behaviour when searching for mates in Kashmir (Williams 1991).
description: Published as part of Williams, Paul H., An, Jiandong, Dorji, Phurpa, Huang, Jiaxing, Jaffar, Saleem, Japoshvili, George, Narah, Jaya, Ren, Zongxin, Streinzer, Martin, Thanoosing, Chawatat, Tian, Li & Orr, Michael C., 2023, Bumblebees with big teeth: revising the subgenus Alpigenobombus with the good, the bad and the ugly of numts (Hymenoptera: Apidae), pp. 1-65 in European Journal of Taxonomy 892 (1) on pages 35-36, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.892.2283, http://zenodo.org/record/8382675