Hoplitis brunnescens belongs to the subgenus Stenosmia

The assignment of Hoplitis brunnescens (Benoist, 1950) to the subgenus Hoplitis by Warncke (1992a) is erroneous. The recent investigation of the female holotype revealed that H. brunnescens belongs to the subgenus Stenosmia and that the type specimen is probably conspecific with H. tagmouta (Warncke, 1991b). However, the type slightly differs from typical females of H. tagmouta by the longer vertex and the reddish colour of legs and terga 1-3 (partly also of terga 4 and 5), rendering a synonymization premature. Only further material including males will show whether H. brunnescens and H. tagmouta are conspecific or represent two distinct species. Hoplitis brunnescens sensu Warncke (1992a) has to be renamed.



Leave a Reply