A new species of Andrena (Labergeia) from Texas with an unusual phenology and floral host, including a redescription of Labergeia (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jom.vi141.24606Abstract
Andrena is a species-rich genus of bees with a wide distribution, predominantly in the Holarctic. Here, we describe and illustrate a previously unknown species, Andrena (Labergeia) cenizophila Neff, Bossert & Zabinski n. sp., from southwestern Texas and central Coahuila, Mexico. Phylogenomic analyses recovered the new species as most closely related to Andrena (Labergeia) nahua Neff, a central Mexican species that was hitherto known only from the male sex. The discovery and examination of additional specimens of A. nahua allows us to describe and illustrate the previously unknown female, which shares diagnostic morphological features with the female of A. cenizophila n. sp. Based on these insights, we expand the diagnosis of Labergeia Neff to accommodate both species and discuss morphological affinities with their closest relatives in the subgenus Dactylandrena Viereck. Fossil-informed divergence time estimates indicates that Labergeia originated in the late Miocene, around 8 million years ago (5.37–11.82 mya), and that all known species of the subgenus, as well as its sister lineage Dactylandrena, are distributed in western and/or central North American. Lastly, we discuss the unusual foraging biology of A. cenizophila n. sp., which, based on observations and analyses of scopal pollen loads, is an oligolege of Leucophyllum frutescens (Berl.), I. M. Johnst. (Scrophulariaceae), a shrub commonly known as cenizo, Texas ranger, or Texas purple sage, among others. Interestingly, cenizo has a distinct floral phenology with comparatively short-termed mass blooms of not more than a week in duration, rendering it an unexpected choice for a specialist pollen collector. To our knowledge, A. cenizophila n. sp., is the only New World Andrena species that is oligolectic on plants of the family Scrophulariaceae.
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