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MELITTOSPHEX (HYMENOPTERA: MELITTOSPHECIDAE), A PRIMITIVE BEE AND NOT A WASP
Author(s) -
POINAR Jr GEORGE
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00840.x
Subject(s) - hymenoptera , claw , biology , synonym (taxonomy) , genus , paleontology , zoology , ecology
In an article published in this journal by Sarzetti et al. (2008), some material was erroneously presented regarding the systematic position of the primitive bee Melittosphex. The authors misquoted a paper by Ohl and Engel (2007) and stated (Sarzetti et al. pp. 938–939) ‘More recently, however, Ohl and Engel (2007) have indicated that this insect body fossil (Melittosphex) is not of a bee; moreover, they stated that Melittosphex burmensis is a synonym of Cretospilomena (Hymenoptera: Crabroninae), also described from Burmese amber (Antropov, 2000)’. Those statements are not included in Ohl and Engel (2007). No formal taxonomic decisions were made in that paper and Ohl and Engel did not synonymize Melittosphex with Cretospilomena. Moreover, Ohl reported to the present author (personal correspondence) that he is convinced the two genera are not synonymous. Many characters distinguish Melittosphex from Cretospilomena. Cretospilomena has simple claws, a minute arolium, a midtibia with one apical spur and very slight body pubescence (Antropov 2000). Melittosphex has cleft claws, a large arolium, midtibia with two apical spurs and the body is covered with dense pubescence of plumose hairs (Poinar and Dancroft 2006a, b). In addition, Melittosphex lacks the elongate pronotum and propodeum of Cretospilomena. The wing venation of the two is also quite different. Both genera possess propodeal spines; however, Cretospilomena has small, acutely pointed spines and Melittosphex has rounded, blunt spines (Danforth and Poinar, in preparation). Whereas neither Ohl nor Engel examined the Melittosphex fossil, B. Danforth did examine the fossils of Cretospilomena in the Natural History Museum (London) and can confirm that the differences originally inferred from Antropov’s (2000) description and illustrations exist. Overall, there are a sufficient number of differences between Melittosphex and Cretospilomena (as well as modern pemphredonine wasps) to conclude that they are not the same. Poinar and Dancroft (2006a, b) erected the family Melittosphecidae to emphasize that Melittosphex is not within the monophyletic group that currently includes all living bees, but a transitional form that bridges the gap between crabronid wasps and extant bees. On the basis of the above-mentioned characters, especially the dense covering of branched hairs (Text-Fig. 1) and the bee-like habitus, Poinar and Dancroft (2006a, b) considered Melittosphex to represent a pollen-carrying, primitive bee.