Pithitis smaragdula (Fabricius), an Asiatic Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Now Apparently Established on Oahu

1 Pages·2001·0.08 MB·

by  Arakaki, Keith T

Pkoc. HawaiianEntvmol Soc. (2001)35:151 151
SCIENTIFICNOTE
Pithitis smaragdula(Fabricius), an Asiatic Bee
(Hymenoptera: Apidae)
NowApparently Established on Oahu
KeithT.Arakaki1,WilliamD.Perreira2,DavidJ. Preston1,andJohnW.Beardsley"
'B. P.BishopMuseum. 125BcmiceSt..Honolulu,HI96817,USA;
'DepartmentofEntomology.UniversityofHawaii,3050MaileWay,HonoluluHI96822,USA;
'DeceasedFebruary5.2001
In December 1984,oneofus (JWB) found,in acollection madeby anentomologystu
dent at the University of Hawaii, a single male specimen ofa metallic green bee that he
recognized assomething previously unknowninthe Hawaiian fauna.Thespecimen (cited
below)wasnotreportedatthelimebecauseoflackofconfidenceaboutthecollectiondata.
A second male specimen, also from an entomology studentcollection, was found in 1987
andwasnotreportedforthesamereason. However,athirdmaleofthisbeewascollectedin
generalsweepingofintroducedvegetationatBarber'sPt.,Oahu,inNovember1996byJWB
and WDP, and a fourth male was taken by DJP at Pearl Harbor in December 1997. The
specieswasdeterminedbyKTAasPithitissmaragdula(Fabricius)inMarch 1998.Although
ithasbeenrarelycollected,itappearslikely thatthisbeeisnowestablishedonOahu.
Pithitis smaragdula was described by Fabricius (1787) in the genus Apis. The genus
PithitiswaserectedbyKlug(1807)withA.smaragdulaFabriciusasthetypespecies.Pithitis
was treated as a subgenus of Ceratina Latreille by van derVccht (1952), but Hiroshima
(1966)gaveit fullgenericstatus.
According to Hirashima (1969), P. smaragdula is widely distributed throughout south
Asia,includingTaiwan,RyukyuIs..Philippines,Indonesia,southChina,andwesttoIndia
and Pakistan. Hirashima (1969) stated that this bee, incorrectly identified as Ceratina
binghamiCockcrcll,hasbeenutilizedforpollinationofalfalfainIndia,andwaspurposely
introduced into the USA (Utah) and Japan for experimental pollination studies. It is of
interestthatall fouroftheknownHawaiianspecimensare males.
SpecimensExamined:OAHUI.:Waimanalo,27.X.1984,B.Brunson(Id');Waimanalo,
4.III.1987, L.Ruchi (1 d)\ Barber's Pt.,el. 3-10ft, I4.XI.1996,J.W. BeardsleyandW.D.
Perreira,general sweeping(1 0*); Pearl Harbor, KalauaoSprings nr.bikepath, 12.1.1998,
D.J. Preston,sweepnet(I d*).
LiteratureCited
Fabricius,J. C. 1787. Mantissa inseclorum sislensspeciesnuperdelectusadiectis charucteribus.
genericis.dijferenliis.specificis.emendaliimibus,obsenuiiimibus.TomeI.Hafniae,xx+348pp.
Hirashima,Y. 1966.CommentsonthegenusPithitisKlug.withrecordofaspeciesnewtothePhilip
pine.1;(Hymenoptera:Anlhophoridae).Konlyu34:315-316.
Hirashima,Y. 1969.SynopsisofthegenusPilhilisKlugoftheWorld(Hymenoptera:Anthophoridac).
Pac.Insects 11:649-669.
Klug,J.C.F. 1807.VergleichungderCattungenderHautfluglcrPiezalaFabr.HymenopteraLinn.Jur.
Mag. f.lnseklenk.,vol.6: 189-199.
vanderVccht,.1. 1952.A preliminary revision ofthe Oriental speciesofCeratina (Hymenoptera,
Apidae).Zool.Verh. 16:1-85.