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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #329965
Title: Revision of Perdita subgenus Heteroperdita Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) with descriptions of two ant-like males

Author
item PORTMAN, ZACHARY - Utah State University
item NEFF, JOHN - University Of Texas
item Griswold, Terry

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/8/2016
Publication Date: 12/22/2016
Citation: Portman, Z.M., Neff, J.L., Griswold, T.L. 2016. Revision of Perdita subgenus Heteroperdita Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) with descriptions of two ant-like males. Zootaxa. 4214(1):001–097.

Interpretive Summary: The genus Perdita is one of the most diverse groups of bees in the United States with over 400 species. We worked on the species identities in a poorly known subgroup of Perdita, the subgenus Heteroperdita. These are tiny and distinctive bees with body often brightly marked with spots and/or stripes that are found mostly in the deserts of the southwestern United States and nearby Mexico, where they exclusively visit the genus of crinklemat plants (Tiquilia) for pollen. We recognized 22 species, nine of them new to science. In addition, previously unknown opposite sexes for three species are described and defined for the first time. While males and females in bees often are quite different, two species of Heteroperdita are strikingly different between the sexes with distinctive ant-like males. In this paper we summarize what is currently known about the distribution and biology of all the species.

Technical Abstract: Perdita subgenus Heteroperdita Timberlake, a distinctive subgenus of 22 species from the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico, all specialists on Tiquilia (Boraginaceae), is revised. Nine new species are described: Perdita (Heteroperdita) desdemona Portman, n. sp., P. (H.) exusta Portman & Griswold, n. sp., P. (H.) hippolyta Portman, n. sp. (male previously incorrectly described as P. pilonotata Timberlake), P. (H.) hooki Portman & Neff, n. sp., P. (H.) nuttalliae Portman, n. sp., P. (H.) prodigiosa Portman, n. sp., P. (H.) sycorax Portman, n. sp., P. (H.) titania Portman, n. sp., and P. (H.) yanegai Portman, n. sp.. The following sexes are associated and described for the first time: the male of P. (H.) frontalis Timberlake, 1968, the female of P. (H.) optiva Timberlake, 1954, and the true male of P. (H.) pilonotata Timberlake, 1980. Perdita (H.) fasciatella Timberlake, 1980 is proposed as a junior synonym of P. (H.) sexfasciata Timberlake, 1954. A neotype is designated for P. (H.) pilonotata Timberlake, 1980. Two species in particular, P. prodigiosa and P. pilonotata, are sexually dimorphic with distinctive ant-like males. Information is presented on floral relationships, phenology, and geographic distribution. Identification keys for males and females are provided.