Abstract
Augochloropsis and other shiny green Halictinae have had various taxonomic issues and are often misiden-tified. One prevailing taxonomic issue is that Augochloropsis metallica (Fabricius) has two subspecies, that have long been recognized as morphologically distinct (Augochloropsis metallica metallica and Augochloropsis metallica fulgida (Smith), but the subspecies are inconsistently applied in the literature. Here, we review the Augochloropsis of the Midwest and further address the Augochloropsis species in the broader United States to resolve the outstanding taxonomic issues with the midwestern species. We provide identification keys and diag-noses for the genera and species of the shiny green Halictinae of the midwestern United States, which includes the genera Agapostemon, Augochlora, Augochlorella, and Augochloropsis. This work results in taxonomic changes to Augochloropsis. Augochloropsis sumptuosa (Smith) is split into two species, with the name Augochloropsis sumptuosa retained for the eastern form, and Augochloropsis humeralis (Patton), stat. nov., reinstated for the western form. Augochloropsis metallica is split into five species, with two of those species occurring in the midwestern United States: Augochloropsis metallica and Augochloropsis viridula (Smith), stat. nov. Examination of the holotype of Augochloropsis fulgida (Smith) revealed that it does not agree with the prevailing concept of Augochloropsis metallica fulgida; it is reinstated as Augochloropsis fulgida, stat. nov., but is currently known only from the holotype female from Florida. Augochloropsis cuprea (Smith), long considered to be a synonym of Augochloropsis metallica, is also distinct, and we are reinstating Augochloropsis cuprea, stat. nov., though the range of this species is unclear. We further recognize Augochloropsis fulvofimbriata (Friese), stat. nov., from South and Central America, as distinct. These changes result in a total of three Augochloropsis species in the Midwest and seven named species in the United States. We are aware of additional species from the southern and southwest-ern United States that are undescribed, and we highlight additional taxonomic work that remains to be done.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 103-152 |
Number of pages | 50 |
Journal | ZooKeys |
Volume | 2022 |
Issue number | 1130 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We gratefully acknowledge the work of many people for loaning specimens and especially for tracking down and photographing the various type specimens: we thank Joseph Monks (NHMUK) for providing pictures of the types of Augochloropsis viridula, Augochloropsis lucidula, and Augochloropsis fulgida, as well as for his work searching for the type of Augochloropsis sumptuosa; we thank Jason Weintraub (ANSP) for tracking down the types of Augochloropsis humeralis; we thank Lars Vilhelmsen, Sree Selvan-tharan, and Anders Illum of the Natural History Museum of Denmark for taking pictures of the type of Augochloropsis metallica; and we thank James Hogan (OUMNH) for tracking down the type of Augochloropsis cuprea and kindly taking pictures of it. We thank J. Ascher for discussions on taxonomic best practices, and we thank Jason Gibbs, Thomas Onuferko, Laurence Packer, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that improved the manuscript. ZP was funded by the US Department of Interior Cooperative Research and Training Programs of the National Park System: Grant Number P20AC00366-02 to DC.
Funding Information:
We thank J. Ascher for discussions on taxonomic best practices, and we thank Jason Gibbs, Thomas Onuferko, Laurence Packer, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that improved the manuscript. ZP was funded by the US Department of Interior Cooperative Research and Training Programs of the National Park System: Grant Number P20AC00366-02 to DC.
Publisher Copyright:
© Zachary M. Portman et al.
Keywords
- Agapostemon
- Augochlora
- Augochlorella
- Paraugochloropsis
- identification
- species complex