Three new species of Eupetersia Blüthgen , 1928 ( Hymenoptera , Halictidae ) from the Oriental Region Alain PAULY

Three new species, Eupetersia (Nesoeupetersia) singaporensis sp. nov., collected in a mangrove swamp in Singapore, and Eupetersia (Nesoeupetersia) sabahensis sp. nov., collected in the mountains of Sabah, Borneo, and Eupetersia (Nesoeupetersia) yanegai sp. nov., collected in Thailand, are described. This genus is more diversified in the sub-Saharan region, including Madagascar. The only other Oriental species, E. nathani (Baker, 1974), was described from India and is diagnosed and re-illustrated here.


Introduction
The parasitic bee genus Eupetersia Blüthgen, 1928 is probably derived from the genus Sphecodes Latreille, 1804 (Michener 2007;Danforth et al. 2008).Diagnostic features have been listed by Pauly et al. (2001).The more reliable character is the relative length of the first and second flagellomeres which are subequal in length in Eupetersia, while flagellomere 2 is distinctly longer than the first in Sphecodes.
Eupetersia comprises 21 species in sub-Saharan Africa, eight species in Madagascar and one endemic species in the Seychelles (Cockerell 1912;Blüthgen 1928Blüthgen , 1936;;Michener 1978;Pauly 1981;Pauly et al. 2001).Baker (1974) described a species based on a single specimen, E. nathani, from South India.Three additional Oriental species have recently been discovered respectively in Singapore, Borneo and Thailand.Eupetersia species are very rare in the collections of the Oriental region and probably also in the field, since only five specimens are thus far known, representing four distinct species.
The genus is divided in three subgenera: Eupetersia sensu stricto, Nesoeupetersia Blüthgen, 1936 andCalleupetersia Cockerell, 1938.The four oriental species belong to the subgenus Nesoeupetersia, which is more diversified in Madagascar (with also four species), while only one species occurs in mainland Africa.
Morphology suggests that Eupetersia are cleptoparasitic bees (e.g.female without scopa on their hind leg), but data on their specific hosts are entirely lacking.Eupetersia (Nesoeupetersia) scotti (Cockerell, 1912) from the Seychelles is probably a parasite of the bee Lasioglossum (Ctenonomia) mahense (Cameron, 1908), the only other halictid found on this archipelago.In East Africa, Eupetersia species of the subgenus Calleupetersia have been collected around the nests of halictids of the genus Zonalictus Michener, 1978.

Material and methods
We defined taxa in the sense of the morphological species concept, too little information being available to consider eco-, etho-or pheno-species.We used Michener (2007)

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the type locality.

Diagnosis
Small species (5 mm long) with black brown body and dark legs, finely and sparsely punctuate on head and scutum.

Differential diagnosis
Differs from Eupetersia nathani by its smaller size (5 mm), brown metasoma, head and scutum more finely and sparsely punctuate.From E. sabahensis sp.nov. it differs by darker legs and larger head.Colour.Black, metasoma chestnut brown; legs testaceous, anterior legs and knees yellow testaceous; scape, tegulae, mandibles and labrum yellow (Fig. 1A); hairs on terga reddish black.
PuBesCenCe.Grey and rather poor, denser on face and vertical sides of propodeum.

Etymology
The specific epithet refers to the state of Malaysia in which the holotype was collected, Sabah on the island of Borneo.

Diagnosis
Very small species (4,5 mm long) with black brown body and yellowish legs, finely and sparsely punctuate on head and scutum.

Differential diagnosis
Similar to Eupetersia singaporensis sp.nov.but smaller (4.5 mm), legs more yellow, vertex line more elevated.Differs from E. nathani by its smaller size, completely brown metasoma, head and scutum more finely and sparsely punctuate, yellow testaceous legs.
PuBesCenCe.Grey and rather poor, denser on face and vertical sides of propodeum.

Differential diagnosis
Differs from E. singaporensis sp.nov.and E. sabahensis sp.nov.by the larger body (6 mm length), the red colour of terga 1-3, the black legs and scapes, the shorter vertex, the stronger punctuation of head and scutum.Eupetersia (Nesoeupetersia) yanegai sp.nov.

Etymology
The name is in honour of the apidologist Doug Yanega who discovered the first specimen of this species in the collections of the California University, Riverside, and sent it to me for description.

Differential diagnosis
Differs from all the other oriental species by orange colouration of the pronotum and scutum.
Colour.Black, pronotum, scutum and scutellum orange.Labrum and mandibles pale yellow.Anterior part of clypeus amber.Legs black except for anterior part of foretibias, which is chestnut brown.
PuBesCenCe.Metanotum with a tuff of long white setae, lateral and posterior sides of propodeum with white short plumose setae (Fig. 4E).

Discussion
It is known from other halictid cuckoo bees that body size and proportions might vary within a species depending on the host.Eupetersia singaporensis sp.nov.has been collected in a mangrove swamp in Singapore whereas E. nathani and E. sabahensis sp.nov.have both been collected in mountains at an altitude of about 1050 m.Eupetersia singaporensis sp.nov.and E. sabahensis sp.nov.are related and have rather similar male genitalia, but such distant habitats and different characters of size and colouration suggest that the two specimens must preferably be described as two distinct species.Eupetersia yanegai sp.nov. is characterized by the orange colouration of the scutum.Eupetersia nathani differs from the three other species by a stronger punctuation.
The Oriental Region is not as rich for this group as Africa or Madagascar, because the subgenera Eupetersia sensu stricto and Calleupepersia are entirely absent.But the discovery of the three new species shows that the Oriental region is as rich as Madagascar and richer than mainland Africa for the subgenus Nesoeupetersia.This subgenus with an African-Oriental distribution seems restricted to the humid forested areas and is absent in mountains of East Africa and in southern Africa.
Following Michener (1979), many tropical groups of bees of the Old World occur in Africa, and then again from India eastward across southern Asia.A more humid climate across the Arabian peninsula, southern Iran and west Pakistan would connect or nearly connect these areas for the bees concerned, even with the continents in their present positions.Since more humid conditions undoubtedly existed in this area in the not very distant past, this disjunction is easy to understand.Some of the bee taxa involved are Thrinchostoma Saussure, 1890, Pachyhalictus Cockerell, 1929, Ctenonomia Cameron, 1903, Ipomalictus Pauly, 1999, Ctenoplectra Kirby, 1826, Creightonella Cockerell, 1908, two or more subgenera of Chalicodoma Lepeletier, 1841, various subgenera of Xylocopa Latreille, 1802, Eucara Friese, 1905, and Braunsapis Michener, 1969.