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Anthophora bomboides solitaria Ritsema, 1880

Properties

Scientific Name: Anthophora bomboides solitaria Ritsema, 1880

Common Name: Vancouver Island Bumblebee-like Digger Bee

Taxonomy

*Anthophora insularis Smith, 1879: 124 [♀]. Preoccupied, not Anthophora insularis Smith, 1857= Amegilla insularis (Smith, 1857).

     Holotype ♀. CANADA, British Columbia, Vancouver’s Island [BMNH].

Anthophora solitaria Ritsema, in Albarda et al. 1880: xcviii. New name for Anthophora insularis Smith, 1879.

 

Taxonomic Notes: Cockerell (1900: 409) referred to a male specimen from Olympia, Washington with black hair on the vertex, scutellum, and hind part of the mesothorax, which he thought was likely the male of A. insularis Smith (=Anthophora solitaria Ritsema), though Brooks (1983: 38) indicated the male of Anthophora solitaria Ritsema lacks black hair on the thorax, an opinion largely supported by DNA barcodes.

The record of Anthophora stanfordiana Cockerell from BC in Criddle et al. (1924: 99) has not been confirmed, though it is possibles that it represents this subspecies.

Distribution in Canada: Smith 1879 [BC, type locality]; Brooks 1983 [BC, AK].

DNA Barcode Index Number (BIN): BOLD:AAC0462

The BIN of this subspecies from BC, Canada and adjacent Alaska and Washington (Brooks 1983) differs from the typical form Anthophora bomboides bomboides Kirby, 1837 throughout most of its range (i.e., BOLD:AAC0461), but is shared with A. bomboides stanfordiana Cockerell, 1904 from California, Oregon, and Washington, despite differences in distribution and overall pubescence colour. Should intermediate forms occur on the west coast between California and southern coastal BC, A. b. solitaria would have name priority over A. b. stanfordiana. Though no material has been DNA barcoded, A. bomboides aterrima Cockerell, 1924 should be compared to these subspecies as it may represent a fully melanistiic form restricted to Plumas County, California (see Brooks 1983).

References

Smith F (1879) Descriptions of New Species of Hymenoptera in the Collection of the British Museum. Taylor and Francis, London, 240 pp.

Albarda W, Bijleveld RT, Career AW Jr, Dreessens WH, Everts EJG, Groll HW, van Zouteveen HHH, Kinker J, Leesberg AFA, van Leeuwen J Jr, Lodeesen JW, Maitland RT, Piaget E, Ritsema C, Swierstra KN, Veth PJ, Veth HJ, van der Wulp FM. (1880) Verslag van de Dertiende Wintervergadering der Nederlandsche Entomologische Vereeniging, Gehouden te Leiden op Zondag 28 December 1879, des morgens ten 11 ure. Tijdschrift voor entomologie 23: lxxxvi-xcix.

Brooks RW (1983) Systematics and bionomics of Anthophora: the bomboides group and species groups of the New World (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Anthophoridae). University of California Publications in Entomology 98: 1-86.

Sociality: Communal
Nesting: Ground
Pollen Specialization: Polylectic

Crop Preference: Not Available
Non Crop Preference: Not Available

Distribution: British Columbia
Ecozone: Pacific Maritime, Western Interior Basin

Distribution Map