ANURA WIJESEKARA
Horticultural Crops Research and Development Institute, Sri Lanka
AN ANNOTATED LIST OF BEES (HYMENOPTERA: APOIDEA: APIFORMIS) OF SRI LANKA
Wijesekara, A. 2001. An annotated list of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformis) of Sri Lan- ka. – Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 144: 145-158. [ISSN 0040-7496]. Published 1 June 2001. A taxonomic review of the bees (Apoidea: Apiformis) of Sri Lanka is presented. Four families, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae are represented by species belonging to the following genera: Hylaeus (Colletidae), Systropha, Lipotriches, Nomia, Steganomus, Ceylalictus, Halictus, Homalictus, Lasioglossum and Pachyhalictus (Halictidae), Lithurgus, Anthidiellum, Eu- aspis, Coelioxys, Exanthidium, and Megachile (Megachilidae), Xylocopa, Ceratina, Braunsapis, Nomada, Tetralonia, Amegilla, Thyreus, Trigona and Apis (Apidae). A list of all bees known to occur in Sri Lanka is given with short general descriptions of the families and family groups to which they belong. Names of five recorded species are listed as uncertain. The following eight new combinations are proposed: Lipotriches (Austronomia) austella (Hirashima), L. (A.) krombeini (Hirashima), L. (A.) notiomorpha (Hirashima), L. (A.) ustula (Cockerell), Lipotriches (Lipotriches) aurifrons (Smith), L. (L.) basipicta (Wickwar), L. (L.) carinicollis (Cameron), and Lipotriches (Lipotriches) comberi (Cockerell), all from Nomia. A.Wijesekara, Horticulture Research & Development Institute, P.O. Box 11, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. E-mail: [email protected] Key words. – Hymenoptera; Apoidea; Colletidae; Halictidae; Megachilidae; Apidae; Sri Lanka.
There are about 16,325 species of described bees in seven (Michener 2000). the world (Michener 2000). They differ from sphe- The objective of this work is to present a complete coid wasps, their closest relatives, by having branched and updated list of bees known to occur in Sri Lanka hairs on the body and en enlarged hind basitarsus. As in order to encourage and facilitate taxonomic work in the case of many other insect groups, bees of Sri on Sri Lankan bees. Lanka have not been adequately studied systematical- Descriptions and distribution records of bees from ly or biologically, except for the honey bee species Apis Sri Lanka were gathered by surveying the taxonomic cerana. Hence no information exists about the num- literature. The currently valid scientific name of each ber of bees that occur in Sri Lanka or about their di- species was determined by reviewing the literature in versity. Many species of bees have been recorded from consultation with old world bee taxonomists. Sri Lanka but this information is mostly scattered in the taxonomic literature. The Catalogue of Hy- LIST OF BEES FROM SRI LANKA menoptera (Dalla Torre 1896) listed 17 bee species from Sri Lanka while Bingham (1897) gave descrip- Four of the seven families Colletidae, Halictidae, tions of 47 species. Strand (1913) identified 42 species Megachilidae and Apidae are represented in Sri Lanka. of which 12 were described as new. Since then more It was found that 132 species of bees have been record- bees have been recorded and described from Sri Lanka ed from Sri Lanka. They are listed below under their by many authors. Little is known about the biology of respective family groups as recognized by Michener most of the native bees of Sri Lanka. Relevant biolog- (2000). A short general introduction to each family ical information and a key for identification of (Indi- group, based mainly on O´Toole and Raw (1991) is an) genera can be found in Batra (1977). followed by the currently valid species names. The The higher classification of bees has been changing general distribution of the species within Sri Lanka is recently. Gauld and Bolton (1988) recognized only given when locality information has been available in two families, Sphecidae and Apidae in the superfamily the literature. Each specific name is followed by the Apoidea. They classified all bees within Apidae in dif- reference to its original description and other refer- ferent subfamilies. Michener (1993), recognized 11 ences relevant to Sri Lanka including any junior syn- families of bees within an informal series Apiformis of onyms, all in italics. The abbreviations for district Apoidea but later reduced the number of families to names used to indicate distribution are as follows:
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AMP Ampara Lanka. Most halictids excavate nests in the ground ANU Anuradhapura and line their brood cells with a mixture of chemicals BAD Badulla which is not transparent as in colletids. COL Colombo GAL Galle Rophitinae GAM Gampaha Systropha tropicalis Cockerell: KAN, MAT, GAL HAM Hambantota Systropha tropicalis Cockerell, 1911a: 227; Baker JAF Jaffna 1996: 1535. KAN Kandy Systropha butteli Friese, 1913: 87; Friese 1918: KAL Kalutara 509. KUE Kurunegala MAN Mannar Nomiinae MAT Matale Nomiinae are mostly solitary bees but communal, MON Monaragala quasisocial or semisocial species are known. Many MTA Matara males of this bee group have their hind femora and NUE Nuwara Eliya occasionally their hindtibia swollen and armed with POL Polonnaruwa stout spines. The species listed below in the genus PUT Puttalama Nomia with no indication of their subgenera need to RAT Ratnapura be restudied. Probably most of them will be placed in TRI Trincomalee the genus Lipotriches. The new combinations are ac- VAV Vavunia cording to C. D. Michener.
Colletidae Lipotriches (Austronomia) austella (Hirashima) The Colletidae consists of over 2000 species in the comb. n.: HAM. world and is divided into five subfamilies. The Sri Nomia (Austronomia) austella Hirashima, 1978: Lankan species belong to the Hylaeinae, members of 92. which are distributed world wide. The females of col- Lipotriches (Austronomia) krombeini (Hirashima) letids line their brood cells with a transparent water comb. n.: ANU, COL, HAM, (and various other loca- proof membrane resistant to fungal attack. tions). Nomia (Austronomia) krombeini Hirashima, 1978: Hylaeinae 98. Hylaeine bees are relatively hairless, wasp-like and Lipotriches (Austronomia) notiomorpha (Hirashima) lack pollen carrying scopa. Females transport pollen comb. n.: AMP, HAM, KAN, MAN, (and various other in their crops. Many species nest in plant stems, plant locations). galls, beetle borings, old cells of bees and wasps and Nomia (Austronomia) notiomorpha Hirashima, some nest in the ground. Of the three species known 1978: 100. from Sri Lanka the identity of H. monilicornis has not Lipotriches (Austronomia) ustula (Cockerell) comb. n.: been firmly established (Snelling 1980). ANU, COL, GAL, KAN, MAT, POL, PUT, RAT. Nomia ustula Cockerell, 1911e: 231, Strand 1913: Hylaeus (Paraprosopis) krombeini Snelling: ANU. 143. Hylaeus (Paraprosopis) krombeini Snelling, 1980: 3. Nomia (Austronomia) ustula: Hirashima 1978: 96. Hylaeus (Prosopis) monilicornis (Motschulski) Lipotriches (Lipotriches) aurifrons (Smith) comb. n.: Hylaeus monilicornis Motschulski, 1863: 24. GAM. Prosopis monilicornis: Dalla Torre 1896: 27, Bing- Nomia aurifrons Smith, 1875a: 43, Strand 1913: ham 1897: 413. 142. Hylaeus (Prosopis) monilicornis: Snelling 1980: 1. Nomia (Rhopalomelissa) aurifrons: Michener 1965: Hylaeus sedens Snelling: KAN. 159. Hylaeus sedens Snelling, 1980: 13. Lipotriches (Lipotriches) basipicta (Wickwar) comb. n. Note: Known only from a single specimen. Nomia basipicta Wickwar, 1908: 122. Nomia (Rhopalomelissa) basipicta: Michener 1965: Halictidae 159. This family has over 5000 species worldwide. Lipotriches (Lipotriches) carinicollis (Cameron) Many halictids are metallic in coloration and the fam- comb. n. ily includes solitary as well as primitively eusocial Nomia carinicollis Cameron, 1902a: 251. bees. All four subfamilies, Rophitinae, Halictinae, Nomia (Rhopalomelissa) carinicollis: Michener Nomiodinae and Nomiinae are represented in Sri 1965: 159.
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