T. D. A. Cockerell.
Meliponine Bees from Central America.
Psyche 20(1):10-14, 1913.

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10 Psyche [~ebruary
MELIPONINE BEES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.
BY T. D. A. COCKERELL.
The University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. When recently travelling in Central America, Dr. W. M. Wheeler collected and made observations on a number of interesting species of Meliponinse. The specimens obtained were kindly sent to me for study, and are reported on herewith. Trigona amalthea (Olivier) .
Escuintla, Guatemala, Dec. 28, 1911 (No. 2); Las Sabanas, Panama, Nov. 1911 (No. 17).
This is T. fuscipennis Friese.
The
" amalthea " of Friese and Silvestri is T. silvestriana Vachal (T. friesei von Ihering).
Trigona nigeha Cresson.
Quirigua, Guatemala, Nov. 1911.
Trigona jaty Smith.
Escuintla, Guatemala, Dec. 30, 1911; Patulul, Guatemala, Jan. 1, 1912.
Trigona pallida (Latreille) .
Gatun, Panama, Canal Zone, Nov. 11, 1911; Las Sabanas, Panama, Nov. 1911.
Trigona cupira Smith.
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dec. 1911; Zacapa, Guatemala, Dec. 15, 1911 (No. 10).
A male from San Jose, Costa Rica,
Dec. 27, 1911 (No. 8) evidently belongs here; it has a narrower face than the female, and the clypeal markings are obscure. Trigona perilampoides Cresson.
Escuintla, Guatemala, Dec. 28, 1911.
Trigona fulviventris Gufoin.
Zacapa and Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.
Trigona townsendi Cockerell.
Patulul, Guatemala, Jan. 2, 1912, one specimen (No. 19). This
Pu&e 20:10.14 (1913). hupYtpsychueincluborgtiWM-010 html



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19131 Cockerell-Meliponine Bees from Central America 11 minute species has hitherto been known only from Peru. Face
all black.
Trigona frontalis Friese.
Patulul, Guatemala, Jan. 2,1912, one specimen. Face-markings, white.
Trigona stigma Smith.
Las Sabanas, Panama, Nov. 1911 (Nov. 14). In several speci-
mens the abdomen is yellowish white except at apex; in others dark brown. This is, I believe, due to immaturity. A specimen
from Sangre Grande, Trinidad, March 16, 1912 (H. Scott) is con- sidered to be the hitherto unknown male of this species. It is like the worker, but with longer antennae, and the anterior orbits are very narrowly margined with creamy-white. Dr. Friese, to whom a specimen of this species was submitted, considered it undescribed, but it agrees exactly with Smith's description of stigma. Trigona bipunctata wheeleri subsp. nov.
Worker. Smaller, length hardly 4; mm.; wings suffused with orange ferruginous, the color especially bright and strong in the costal region. Known from other black Guatemalan species by the color of the wings, a variable light spot at each side of the clypeus, and the upper part of the clypeus with a variably distinct keel. The mandibles are bright red at apex. T. bilineata Say, from the Rio Nautla, Mexico (Townsend) is hardly to be considered a distinct species, but it has not the orange wings, and does not closely resemble the present insect. The new form is from Escuintla, Guatemala (type locality), Dec. 20,1911 (No. 11) ; Patulul, Guatemala, Jan. 8, 1912. Twelve
specimens in all.
Dr. Friese, who,,examined a specimen of this species, referred it to T. mexicana Guerin. I have what I consider to be T. mexicana from the Rio Nautla, Mexico (Townsend); it has greyish-hyaline wings, and is distinct from the present insect. Trigona pectoralis (Dalla Torre).
Escuintla, Guatemala, Dec. 27, 1911 (No. 5). Professor C. F.
Baker sent me specimens of this species from San Marcos, Nica- ragua, labelled T. dorsalis Sm., det. Friese. I have a true dorsalis from F. Smith's collection; it has a long abdomen, and is evidently distinct from pectoralis.




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Psyche
Trigona pectoralis panamensis subsp. nov. Worker with the long pollen-collecting hairs of hind tibiae all black (in typical pectoralis they are entirely pale red).
Las Sabanas, Panama, Nov. 1911, two workers (No. 15). Trigona n. sp. (?) .
Gatun, Panama, Canal Zone, Nov. 11, 1911. A worker in very
bad condition; resembles T. fulviventris Guhr., but the legs are red, and the hair of head, thorax and legs is entirely fulvous; the mesopleura is also evidently red.
So far as can be made out the
species is new, but it cannot be described properly without fresh material.
Trigona ruficms (Latreille) .
Zacapa, Guatemala, Dec. 13, 1911.
Trigona mficrus corvina subsp. nov.
Worker with hind tibiae and tarsi black. Larger than T. amalthea; wings very dark; mandibles red.
Zacapa, Guatemala (type locality), Dec. 12, 1911 (No. 3); San Jose, Costa Rica, Dec. 27, 1911; Gatun, Panama, Canal Zone, Nov. 11, 1911 (No. 7.); Las Sabanas, Panama. Dr. Friese
would not separate this from T. f uscipennis, but it has red mandi- bles, and in my opinion belongs with ruficrus rather than with amalthea ( fuscipennis) .
Trigona nigra Cresson = cressonii Dalla Torre. This is not in Dr. Wheeler's collection, but I take the opportunity to note that specimens from Belize, sent by Prof. C. F. Baker, are labelled T. hyalinata Lep., det. Friese.l It is however plain from
Lepeletier's description that they cannot be that species. Trigona flaveola mediorufa subsp. nov.
Worker.
Length about 5$ mm.; orange-ferruginous and black; head extremely large, broader than throax, pale ferruginous, the face suffusedly light yellowish- testaceous; ocellar region black, the black variable in amount, with or without lateral processes; clypeus with a transverse black subapical line; front and face almost hairless, front brilliantly shining, face (with clypeus) finely sculptured with 1Professor Baker's species labels were large, and I replaced them by smaller ones. I do not now recall whether "det Fries? was on the original labels, or was placed, there by me on the basis of information sent separately.



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19141 Cockerell-Meliponine Bees from Central America 13 quite dense microscopical punctures; mandibles pale reddish testaceous, with a black basal tubercle, the margin dentate only at the inner coiner; scape pale ferruginous, with the apical part darkened; flagellum dark with the apical margins of the joints ferruginous beneath; mesothorax moderately shining, with rather coarse and abundant hair, which is red on the red parts, but mainly fuscous on the back; middle third of mesothorax (broader behind) clear ferruginous, lateral third black, but the lateral margins narrowly ferruginous; scutellum ferruginous with a dark basal spot; pleura and metathorax black, with partly reddish and partly fuscous hair (fuscous in front and beneath); prothorax orange-ferruginous with a black stripe on each side; tubercles ferruginous; tegulae large, pale yellowish red; wings hyaline, yellowish basally, stigma and nevures light orange-ferruginous; legs reddish-black, with the following parts red or yellowish-red, anterior femora in front, and apically behind, with more or less of a stripe down lower side, anterior tibiae in front and a broad stripe down outer side, apices of the tarsi, middle and hind trochanters above, and spot at apex of middle femora; hairs of the not greatly broad- ened hind tibiae black; abdomen rather short and narrow, shining clear orange- ferruginous, the apical segments with coarse hair, which appears black in some lights and reddish in others, but that of last segment always appears red; hair on inner side of basitarsi red, shining, brilliant red-golden. Hob.-Escuintla, Guatemala, three taken Dec. 30, 1911. (W. M. Wheeler, 30). Not very close to any species known to me by specimens or descriptions, but it may be compared with T. tataira Smith (coccof ago H. Miiller; cacafago F. Miiller), from which it differs by the much broader face, much longer scape, color of the legs,etc., (a cotype of tataira compared). Since writing the above, I have been informed that Dr. Friese considers this to be his T. flaveola. As however flaveola was described as "ut cacafago, sed thorace ferrugineo, femoribus ferrugineis; alis hyalinis, basi fuscata, pterostigmate flavido, cellula radiali hyalina." I think I am justified in considering our insect at least subspecifically distinct.
The following table will facilitate the separation of the species discussed above :
Mesothorax and scutellum densely rugosopunctate; axillae pale, as also the bidentate apex of scutellum ........................ perilampoides Cress. .................................... Not thus sculptured and marked. .1
....
1. Wings blackish, with the apex white; small black species. .cressoni (D.T.)
Wings not thus colored. ............................................. .2 2. Minute, length 4 mm. or less. ........................................ .3 Larger, over 4 mm. ................................................ .4 3. Larger; face with white markings. ....................... .frontalis Friese Smaller; face all black. .................................. .townsendi Ckll



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14 Psyche [February
4. Legs bright ferruginous. ............................................ .5 Legs mainly (mediorufa) or wholly black or brown, dark. ................ .7 5. Mesothorax wholly red. ................................... pallida (Latr.) Mesothorax black, or almost entirely so. .............................. .6 6. Hind tibiae with hair all red. ............................. pectoralis (D. T.) Hind tibiae with conspicuous black hairs. ......... pectoralis panamensis Ckll 7. Head and thorax black; abdomen orange; wings dusky reddish. fulviventris Gu6r. Not so colored. ..................................................... .8 8. Wings with bright ferruginous costa. .................................. .9 Wings without redcosta ............................................. 10 9. Abdomen orange-ferruginous; head very large. ...... .flaveola midiorufa Ckll Abdomen black. .................................. bipunctata wheeleri Ckll 10. Wings white or clear hyaline, stigma light ferruginous; abdomen long and narrow, often pale. .................................... .stigma Smith Wings dark or dusky; abdomen ordinary. ............................. .ll 11. Large; anterior wing about 9.5 mm. long. ................ .nigerrima Cress. Smaller ........................................................... .12 12. Face broad, without light markings. .................................. .13 Face with light markings. ................................. cupira Smith 13. Mandibles dark. ...................................... .amaUhea (Oliv.) Mandibles red. .................... : ............................... .14 14. Hind tibiae and tarsi red. ................................ ruficrus (Latr.) Hind tibiae and tarsi black.. ...................... .r@crus cwvina Ckll



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