4 p. ; 24 cm.Includes 1 bibliographical reference (p. [1])

American Museum Congo Expedition (1909-1915)

Chapin, James Paul, 1889-1964.

Cockerell, Theodore D. A. (Theodore Dru Alison), 1866-1948.

Lang, Herbert, 1879-1957.

American Museum of Natural History Scientific Publications

AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITA-TESPublished byNumber 808 THz AmERICAN Muszum oF NATURAL HISTOR&Y June 20, 1935NUmber~~~~NewYork City U 359.57, 99 C (67.5)PARASITIC BEES OF THE GENUS COELIOXYS FROM THEBELGIAN CONGO 1BY T. D. A. COCKERELLThe species of Coelioxys may be divided into two groups, Coelioxysproper, in which the eyes are hairy, and Liothyrapis, in which they arebare.LIOTHYDPIS Cockerell, 1911Two species were found by Lang and Chapin, as follows.Coelioxys (Liothyrapis) verticalis Smith, 1854Small females, about 11 mm. long, or less; mesothorax coarselystriate; apical sternite rounded and obtuse at end.Faradje, twelve, November, December, January, April. Aba,30 50' N., 300 10' E., one, December. On the wide distribution (south toNatal) see Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., XXIII, 1932, p. 26.Coelioxys (Liothyrapis) torrida Smith, 1854Size variable; a large one from Boma is almost 17 mm. long; thesmallest one from Faradje only about 11.4 mm.Stanleyville, March and May; Faradje, November, December, andJanuary; Poko, August; Boma, June. Also taken by J. Ogilvie atTanga, Tanganyika Territory, and Mozambique, Portuguese East Africa,in June. Thus it extends right across Africa. Friese, in his key tofeinales ('Die Bienen Afrikas'), has this species in the wrong section.The wide distribution of these insects is remarkable. C. maculataFriese, a large species described from the Transvaal, is in the BritishMuseum from Delagoa Bay (collector unknown), and the followingplaces in Uganda: Northern Buddu, 3800 ft., September (S. A. Neave);Kampala, April (C. C. Gowdey); Entebbe, August (Gowdey), andJanuary (Neave). There is also a specimen from F. Smith's collectionlabelled "W. Africa."The C. subdentata group is even more widely distributed; whetherit consists of one species, with local races, or of two or more, is at presentuncertain. Smith described it from the male, with ferruginous tarsi,'Scientific Results of the Congo Expedition. Entomology No. 29.AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATESfrom the Cape Province. C. lativentris Friese, females with the tarsi"rotbraun," appears to be the same species. There is, however, a verywidely distributed insect, with dark anterior wings and entirely blacklegs, which I had regarded as a form of C. subdentata, and should notnow separate, were it not for the fact that Brauns in 1930 described it asC. lativentrioides, giving apparently adequate characters to separate thefemale from C. lativentris Friese, which I suppose to be the female of C.subdentata Smith. An older name for this black-legged insect is C.umbripennis (C. decipiens var. umbripennis Friese, 1922), and this musthold, unless (as seems very possible) the C. cherenensis Friese, 1913,from Abyssinia should be considered a race of same species. There isalso a still older name, C. neavei Vachal, 1910, which may be applicable.In the British Museum I find C. umbripennis from Matjesfontein,Cape Province (Turner); Fort Jameson (Neave), Upper LuangwaRiver (Neave), Niamadze River, near Nawalia (Neave), and Chilanga(R. C. Wood), all in N. E. Rhodesia; Kotakota, Nyasaland (J. E. S.Old); Nasisi Hills, twenty miles north of Mumias, British E. Africa, 4800ft. (Neave); Chiromo, British E. Africa (J. E. S. Old); and the follow-ing places in Uganda, North of Lake Isolt, 3700 ft. (Neave): Kafu R.,near Hoima, Kampala Road, 3500 ft. (Neave); banks of Nile nearKakindu, 3400 ft. (Neave); between Jinja and Busia or Mbwagos,E. Busoga (Neave). The Matjesfontein females have more white hairon under side of abdomen than those from more northern (north-eastern) regions, but there is no sharp line of division.From Yapi, Gold Coast, November (J. J. Simpson), comes a distinctsubspecies, which I call C. umbripennis nigriventris. It lacks (in bothsexes) the distinct white hair-bands on under side of abdomen, and thespines of the axillae are remarkably thick and obtuse. The type (to befurther described in a paper now being prepared) is a female. Friesedescribed his C. decipiens var. umbripennis from two females, one fromSenegal, the other from Natal. I designate the Natal form as the type,as it resembles C. decipiens in having ventral hair-bands on abdomen.It is quite possible that the Senegal one was nigriventris, but we have noinformation on this point.Apparently C. maculata and C. umbripennis have spread up anddown East Africa, and across to West Africa north of the Equatorialforest, but are not found in the basin of the Congo. No doubt thisdistribution is connected with that of species of Megachile on which theyare parasitic.2 [No-. 8081935] COELIOXYS FROM THE BELGIAN CONGOCOELIOXYS Latreille, 1809 (typical subgenus)Coelioxys (Coelioxys) chubbi Cockerell, 1920Described from Durban, Natal. Three females taken by Lang andChapin differ slightly in the yellowish tint of the pubescence, but arepositively the same species. They are from Stanleyville, April, andThysville, June.There is some affinity with C. labrosa Friese, 1914, especially withregard to the hair at end of clypeus (dense and yellowish when fresh),but the shining abdomen, narrower at end, will readily distinguish it.Coelioxys (Coelioxys) planidens Friese, 1904Two males from Boma, Belgian Congo, June (Lang and Chapin).The face is very narrow. The species is allied to C. liberiensis Cockerell.It was known from the east coast (Delagoa Bay), so is now found toextend right across Africa.Another very widely distributed species, extending from the Mediter-ranean region to South Africa, is C. afra Lepeletier. The southern formmay be regarded as a subspecies, for which the name pusilla Gerstaecker,described from Mozambique, is available. I have both sexes of thisform from Porto Amelia, June (A. Mackie, J. Ogilvie).It would appear that the evolution of the parasitic Coelioxys hasnot kept pace with that of the host genus, Megachile. This seems espe-cially evident in Australia, where Coelioxys is represented by four species,Megachile by about 125. But in Australia it is practically certain thatthe Megachile-fauna is for the most part a very ancient one, whereasCoelioxys appears to have arrived in comparatively recent times. It is inSouth America that Coelioxys is most abundant and diversified, fairlykeeping pace with the large Megachile-fauna. Perhaps Coelioxys orig-inated in the Neotropical region and has spread thence over the world;but some of the Old World members of the genus represent distinct andpeculiar groups, which we suppose to have developed in the regionswhere we find them. An intensive study of the Coelioxys of the world,especially dealing with the biological aspects, would certainly be veryinteresting and worth while.Stoeckhert (1932, Deutsch. Ent. Zeit.) gives an excellent account ofwhat is known of these matters in Central Europe. He brings out thefact that although Coelioxys belongs to Megachilidae, and is in generala parasite of Megachile, it nevertheless has in certain cases shifted toother genera and other families. C. rufescens Lepeletier is a regular34 AMIERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES [No. 808parasite of Anthophora parietina Fabricius. C. polycentris Foerster isbelieved to be parasitic on Tetralonia nana Morawitz. Several species ofCoelioxys have been raised from nests of Osmia. Most of these recordsappear well established, though confusion may arise from the fact that(as we have observed in Colorado) Osmia and other insects nest in theold burrows of Anthophora.NOTE.-Megachile sticede Cockerell, 1935, American Museum Novitates, No.783, p. 7, footnote, is a misprint for M. sticeae.

Coelioxys from the Belgian Congo

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