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Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2017 Publication Date: 1/11/2018 Citation: Griswold, T.L. 2018. First record of Stenoheriades Cockerell in tropical Asia: Stenoheriades bifida, new species (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Zootaxa. 4370(3):279–282. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4370.3.7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4370.3.7 Interpretive Summary: Many unknown species of bees exist throughout the world. Some are remarkable because they have unique body structures not known to exist in other bees, others because they represent bee groups not expected in a geographic region. The new species described here from Western Ghats in India, Stenoheriades bifida, meets both these criteria. The genus it belongs to was not known to occur in Asia, and it has unique body structures not previously known in bees. Technical Abstract: The little known osmiine genus Stenoheriades, previously thought to be restricted to the Afrotropics and eastern Mediterranean, is here recorded from tropical Asia in the form of S. bifida, new species. This disjunct distribution adds to a growing list of endemic megachilids in southern India. The new species exhibits novel morphologies in the Megachilidae. |
