Two new species of Epeolini from northern Chile, with the first record of Triepeolus for the country and a key to Chilean species of Doeringiella (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Triepeolus cecilyae Packer, new species, and Doeringiella mamabee Packer, new species, both from the far north of Chile are described and illustrated.  Both are known from single male specimens despite considerable search effort in the area of their provenance.  The former species is the first of the genus recorded from Chile.  A key to the three species of Doeringiella Holmberg known from Chile is provided.  Caupolicana dimidiata Herbst is recorded as a likely host of D. gigas (Spinola)

Two new species of Andinopanurgus (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae: Panurginae), with a description of the female of A. amyae

Two new species of Andinopanurgus Gonzalez & Engel are described: Andinopanurgus chirosimpson Packer, new species, from northwest Argentina extends the range of the genus south by more than 2000 km and A. lynnae Packer, new species, from Peru. The new species seem to belong to Gonzalez & Engel’s “guarnensis species group” but differ from it in the highly modified setae on S4, which are divided into two to four branches (in A. chirosimpson, the four-branched ones of which look like a thumbless hand and are the source of the specific epithet) to two to five branches (in A. lynnae). The female of A. amyae (Gonzalez & Engel) is described for the first time

A new socially parasitic Braunsapis (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopinae: Allodapini) from Vietnam, with a key to female socially parasitic Braunsapis in Asia

Braunsapis scorpius Packer, new species, from Vietnam, is diagnosed, described, and illustrated.  In addition to adaptations commonly associated with related social parasites (i.e., reduced metatibial hairs, short mouthparts, and absence of a basitibial plate), it has a remarkably recurved metasomal apex.  It is compared to other socially parasitic members of its genus from Asia and a key to females of these social parasites is provided

A new species of Systropha from Thailand (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Rophitinae)

Systropha sirikitae de Silva & Packer, new species, from Thailand is described and illustrated.  It is known only from the male.  Patiny & Michez’s (2006) key to males of Systropha is modified to permit its identification.  It would seem to be the second known species of the subgenus Systrophidia Cockerell

A new species of Chiasmognathus from Kazakhstan (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/melittology/indexA new species of the ammobatine bee genus Chiasmognathus Engel (Nomadinae: Ammobatini) is described and figured from near Almaty, Kazakhstan. Chiasmognathus scythicus Engel & Packer, new species, is superficially similar to C. gussakovskii (Popov), also from Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan), but differs most notably in the form of the male genitali

Successful Biological Invasion despite a Severe Genetic Load

Understanding the factors that influence the success of ecologically and economically damaging biological invasions is of prime importance. Recent studies have shown that invasive populations typically exhibit minimal, if any, reductions in genetic diversity, suggesting that large founding populations and/or multiple introductions are required for the success of biological invasions, consistent with predictions of the propagule pressure hypothesis. Through population genetic analysis of neutral microsatellite markers and a gene experiencing balancing selection, we demonstrate that the solitary bee Lasioglossum leucozonium experienced a single and severe bottleneck during its introduction from Europe. Paradoxically, the success of L. leucozonium in its introduced range occurred despite the severe genetic load caused by single-locus complementary sex-determination that still turns 30% of female-destined eggs into sterile diploid males, thereby substantially limiting the growth potential of the introduced population. Using stochastic modeling, we show that L. leucozonium invaded North America through the introduction of a very small number of propagules, most likely a singly-mated female. Our results suggest that chance events and ecological traits of invaders are more important than propagule pressure in determining invasion success, and that the vigilance required to prevent invasions may be considerably greater than has been previously considered

Can green roofs provide habitat for urban bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)?

Increasing urbanization of many regions of the world has resulted in the decline of suitable habitat for wild flora and fauna. Green roofs have been suggested as a potential avenue to provide patches of good-quality habitat in highly developed regions. In this study, we surveyed green roofs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for bee diversity and abundance to determine their potential as quality habitats in an urban area for these important pollinators. By comparing various biodiversity measures between green roofs and ground-level sites, we show that green roofs provide habitat to many bee species. Implications for pollinator conservation and urban agricultural production are discussed

The cleptoparasitic bee genus Chiasmognathus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Kenya, with the description of two new species

The minute, cleptoparasitic bee genus Chiasmognathus (Nomadinae: Ammobatini) is documented from western Kenya, representing the southernmost records of the lineage. Two species are recognized from the Great Rift Valley—Chiasmognathus aturksvenicus, from the southwestern side of Lake Turkana, and the other, C. riftensis, from further south near Lake Bogoria. The former was captured in association with its host, Nomioides (Nomioides) turanicus (Halictinae: Nomioidini). Chiasmognathus saheliensis is considered a new junior synonym of Pasites gnomus, and the latter epithet is transferred to Chiasmognathus: C. gnomus. We illustrate and discuss intraspecific variation in some morphological features of these tiny bees.Keywords: Apoidea, taxonomy, Nomadinae, Halictidae, Kenya, Turkana, Bogori

BMC Zoology – a home for all zoological research in the BMC series

This editorial accompanies the launch of BMC Zoology, a new open access, peer-reviewed journal within the BMC series that considers manuscripts on all aspects of zoology. BMC Zoology will increase and disseminate zoological knowledge through the publication of original research, methodology, database, software and debate articles. With the launch of BMC Zoology, the BMC series closes a gap in its portfolio of subject-specific research journals and is now able to cover all aspects of animal research together with BMC Ecology, BMC Evolutionary Biology and BMC Veterinary Research

Wolbachia and DNA barcoding insects: patterns, potential and problems

Wolbachia is a genus of bacterial endosymbionts that impacts the breeding systems of their hosts. Wolbachia can confuse the patterns of mitochondrial variation, including DNA barcodes, because it influences the pathways through which mitochondria are inherited. We examined the extent to which these endosymbionts are detected in routine DNA barcoding, assessed their impact upon the insect sequence divergence and identification accuracy, and considered the variation present in Wolbachia COI. Using both standard PCR assays (Wolbachia surface coding protein – wsp), and bacterial COI fragments we found evidence of Wolbachia in insect total genomic extracts created for DNA barcoding library construction. When >2 million insect COI trace files were examined on the Barcode of Life Datasystem (BOLD) Wolbachia COI was present in 0.16% of the cases. It is possible to generate Wolbachia COI using standard insect primers; however, that amplicon was never confused with the COI of the host. Wolbachia alleles recovered were predominantly Supergroup A and were broadly distributed geographically and phylogenetically. We conclude that the presence of the Wolbachia DNA in total genomic extracts made from insects is unlikely to compromise the accuracy of the DNA barcode library; in fact, the ability to query this DNA library (the database and the extracts) for endosymbionts is one of the ancillary benefits of such a large scale endeavor – for which we provide several examples. It is our conclusion that regular assays for Wolbachia presence and type can, and should, be adopted by large scale insect barcoding initiatives. While COI is one of the five multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) genes used for categorizing Wolbachia, there is limited overlap with the eukaryotic DNA barcode region