The Melittologist's Newsletter Ronald J. McGinley, Bryan N. Danforth, Maureen J. Mello Department of Entomology • Smithsonian Institution. NHB-105 • Washington, DC 20560 Spring, 1992 NUMBER-S NEWS Ecologia, UNAM), Dr. and Mrs. Wallace LaBerge COLLECTING (Illinois Natural History Survey) and Nancy Pember (American Museum ofNatural History). The trip was organized and lead by Alberto B(lrquez and myself. Report on the first PCAM Jack Neff collected and pressed all plant specimens, expedition to northem Mexico which were subsequently identified at the University of Texas, Austin, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Berle By and her staff. Jerome Rozen, Jr. Simpson Department of Entomology, For the first four days, as the group partidpants American Museum of Natural History, gathered in Hermosillo, collecting trips were taken to Central Park at 79th St., New York, NY 10024 the west of Hermosillo, to the Sea of Cortez, and in The ~t PCAM expedition to Mexico, supported the mountains to the east of Hermosillo (see map). bythe U.S. National Science Foundation, explored the Unfortunately, flowering in the lowlands of Sonora northern, artd regions ofMexico as well as the Sierra had been delayed because the late summer rainy Madre Occidental, separating the Sonoran and season had started only shortly before our arrival. Chihuahuan Deserts. The mountains to the east-northeast of Hermosillo (toward Moctezuma), however, provided excellent collecting. On a single day trip along the Rio Sonora 1,200 spedmens ':VIodirgSIIIions were collected. Other collecting highlights around Hermosillo included finding Calliopsis anomoptera and C. limbus, two Euphorbia bees not previously collected so far south. On August 16 the group departed eastward from Hermosillo to Yecora, Sonora, where specimens of Thygater cockerelli were collected. This is the first record of this genus from Sonora and the first record west ofthe Continental Divide. This spedes was fairly common further east, in Cuahtemoc. The collection ofBombus ephippatus at Yecora also extends the range of this common Mexican bumblebee into Sonora. Specimens of Colletes platycnema, the _____.____________ largest member of the genus in the New World, were also collected here. Perhaps The trip began on August 12 in Hermosillo, the most interesting collections at Yeoora were Sonora, (see map) and included Ricardo Ayala spedmens ofthe predominantly tropical meliponine {Fstacion de Biologia, Universidad Autonoma de genus Partamona. Mexico [UNAM], Chamela), Alberto B(lrquez (Centro Further east, in Chihuahua, we found new species de F.cologia, UNAM, Hermosillo), Luis Godinez of Conanthalictus and Eufiiesia at General Trias. The (Centro de 'Ecologia, UNAM), Teny Griswold (Bee magnificent, all metallic-blue Eufiiesia was collected Biology and Systematics lab., USDA), Bob Minckley visiting yellow-flowered Solanum, and extends the (University of Kansas), Jack Neff (Central Texas range of this tropical genus far to the north. A new Melittological Institute), Adrian Quijada (Centro de species of Calliopsis (Perissander) was also collected Number 5- 1992 MELISSA near Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua. In general, Report on the second NSF-Funded collecting in the Chihuahuan desert was excellent due to record rainfalls for the season. PCAM expedition By At Oudad Jimenez the LaBerges and Nancy Terry Griswold Pember returned to the United States and the USDA Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory. remaining partidpants continued on to ReseiVa Utah State University. UMC 53. Biosfera, Mapimi, a remote site on the border of Logan. Utah 84322-5310 Durango and Chihuahua. This was undoubtedly the most successful collecting locality ofthe entire trip - The second PCAM expedition to Mexico, more than 4000 specimens were collected over several supported by NSF grant BFR-9024723 with assistance days. At least one, and possibly three, new spedes of from the Institute de Biologia, UNAM, was conducted Melanomada were collected here, as well as Calliopsis 28 October-13 November 1991 to explore the late fall (Micronomadopsis) meliloti and Anthocopa daleae, both fauna of parts ofthe Altiplano and coastal Veracruz previously un-recorded spedes from Mexico. with emphasis on the xeric areas ofthe Techuacan Alberto Burquez and Adrian Quijada returned to Desert, Puebla and Metztitlan Valley, Hidalgo­ · Hermosillo from Mapimi and the group continued areas thought by some to be desert refugia during the south, reaching the southern-most extent ofthe trip, Pleistocene. Partidpants for the entire expedition were in the vidnity of Torreon and Zapata, on August 24. Ricardo Ayala, Felipe Noguera, and Terry Griswold, Calliopsis (Micronomadopsis) callosa, which had with Alida Rodriquez and Catalina Everaert joining previously been known only from western Texas and for parts ofthe trip. southern Arizona/New Mexico, was collected at The expedition began in Mexico City, moved Zapata. south and east to Tiayacapan, Taxco, and lxtapan de Returning northward, the group travelled to la Sal, then southeast to Acatlan and Huajuapan de Ciudad Chihuahua, with a brief sortie eastward to Leon, northeast through the Tehuacan Desert to Ojinaga, on the Rio Grande. A new spedes ofStelis, Xalap, down to Cardel, then north along the coast to two new spedes of Holcopasites, and Deltoptila sp. were Poza Rica, inland to Pachuca, north through the collected on this leg ofthe trip. We found excellent Metztitlan Valley to Otango, and returned to Mexico collecting at the Samalayuca sand dunes south of Oty. The final two days were spent collecting in areas Oudad Juarez. Due to abundant flowering of many just south of the dty and in natural area on the plants we collected several thousand spedmens of campus of UNAM. genera typical of the southwestern U.S., including a The area sampled included parts ofthe states of large matinal, Oenothera-visiting Megachile Mexico, Morelos, Guerrero, Oxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, - (Megachiloides) sp. Males and females ofPerdita and Hidalgo, and the Distrito Federal. Parts of the (Macropteropsis) magniceps were collected here; a route traveled are probably the most completely spedes oligolectic on Sphaeralcea which had sampled of any region in Mexico. But collections previously been known only from the male holotype. during the summer months account for almost all of After Samalayuca the group headed westward the sampling effort; very few bees have been collected with the intent oftaking the road from Nuevo Casas during fall months. The results ofthis expedition Grandes to Cuahtemoc, and on to Yecora. However, prove that this is not due to the absence of a fall bee heavy rains had washed out the rood to Cuahtemoc fauna. Over 4600 spedmens were obtained during and we were forced to follow the highway south of fifty collector-days. Bees were abundant in a wide the U.S./Mexico border, passing through Agua Prieta, variety of habitats including pine and oak forests, and then west-southwest to Hermosillo. After cloud forest, subtropical and tropical forests, and spending the night ofSeptember 1 in Hermosillo, the deserts. Except in a few areas, such as the coastal group, rejoined by Alberto B(rrquez, went southward dunes ofVeracruz, flowers were abundant. Some of to Alamos, near the southern border ofSonora. the best collecting was on Asteraceae, Fabaceae, And Eulaema polychroma was collected here, extending the SaMa. northern-most record ofthis large genus oforchid Seventy-seven genera ofbees were collected. bees. The group returned to Hermosillo on September Abundant groups included Andrena, Panurginae, 4 and most partidpants returned to their respective Megachilidae, Eucerini, and Bombus. Surprisingly, institutions on September 6. Colletidae and Halictini were very poorly represented. In summary, the trip was a success. Roughly Notable finds include the following: 1) Numerous 17,300 bee specimens were netted during the 26 day, spedmens ofthe rare anathophorid Deltoptila; 2) The 6,177 km expedition. 148 herbarium specimens were first records of Dufourea south of Zacatecas, D. cyanella also collected. from Morelos and Guerrero and an undescribed spedes from Puebla; 3) A new spedes of Hesperapis from the Tehuacan Desert; 4) A nesting site of the rarely collected Mesoxaea tachytifonnis; 5) Seven -2- Number 5- 1992 MELISSA species ofLasioglossum, two ofthem apparently new; Our goal primcny goal is to swveythe inland 6) Several new species ofProtandrena; 6) Good series 11Coahuila Chaparral," a habitatwith a restricted, ofTrachusa (Ulanthidium) and T. (Heteranthidium); 7) patchy distribution in northern Mexico. Chaparral is A new spedes ofMegachile (Chelostomoides) from one ofthe ecological zones that the grant spedfically Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico; 8) A new spedes ofOsmia targets and so most ofthe time will be spent visiting (Diceratosmia); 9) An undesaibed spedes ofHoplitis the various Sierras ofthis region, that range up to (Eremosmia) from the desert area ofMetztitlan Valley; 2200 min elevation. With these objectives in mind, 10) An undesaibed osmiine ofquestionable generic we are planning to spend most ofthe three-week trip assignment near Hoplitis orAsmeadiella, also from the in the state ofCoahuila, primarily north ofCuatro Metztitlan Valley; 11) The previously undesaibed Oenegas. female ofNomada (Pachynomada) dreisbachorum; 12) Partidpants will gather in Torreon, and then An undesaibed nomadine belonging to the · travel northward to the Resezva Biosfera in Mapimi, a • Melanomada complex; and 13) A new species of rich collecting site visited on previous