Euglossa (Euglossa) irisa, de Oliveira, 2025

de Oliveira, Marcio Luiz, 2025, A dozen of new species of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Euglossini) from Brazil and Ecuador, Revista Chilena de Entomología 51 (3), pp. 321-342 : 331-332

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.35249/rche.51.3.25.04
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DE23BE8C-FB49-46C5-908C-05655BE0D05
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16975515
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/241887F1-3D09-FFEE-D6B6-4FB2FBFEFA46
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Euglossa (Euglossa) irisa
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Euglossa (Euglossa) irisa sp. nov.

( Figs. 4 View Figure 4 A-E)

Type material. Holotype. Male with the following data: “ Brasil, Amazonas, Dist. [rito] Agrop. [ecuário], ZF-3, [59W 47’ 24”/2S 14’ 25”] data I. 88, Col. Becker et al. Euglossini 109, Proj. [eto] DBFF.WWF, Res. 3500 ( INPA) . Paratypes: 5 males, idem, 210, Res. [erva] 1104, idem. Mun. [icÍpio] Beruri, estrada do INCRA, km 03, 03°56’02”S / 61°19’03”W, 28/XI-08/XII/2003, Xavier F °, F. & Aquino, L. col. Pará, Serra Norte, Serraria , 22- VI-1985, Márcio Zanuto. MPEGHYM 11002681. Roraima, Tepequém , Pousada SESC, 03°45.186’N / 61°42.959’W, 937m, 14/vii/2009, M.L. Oliveira, O. Mielke & M. Casagrande leg. Maranhão, Cândido Mendes, Povoado Macaxeiras, Fazenda 7 Irmãos, 3.x.2008, F. Limeira et al. leg GoogleMaps .

Diagnosis. Male. Integument of TII-IV purple, TV metallic red, TVI gold, and TVII metallic green, the velvety area of the middle tibia ending in a sharp curve and the presence of two pads.

Description. Measurements: Total length 11 mm, length of labiomaxillary complex two times eye length. Morphology: Labrum subquadrate, wider than long, with median keel, mandible tridentate, clypeal disc tricarinate ( Fig. 4a View Figure 4 ), length of labiomaxillary complex reaching end of SI ( Fig. 4c View Figure 4 ), scutellum relatively straight behind, less than half as long as wide, with faint median depression, slight convex above ( Fig. 4b View Figure 4 ), midtibiae with posterior tuft very small, subcircular, anterior tuft large, slight notched, hinddtibiae subtriangular ( Fig. 4c View Figure 4 ), SII with small, widely separated tufts. Color: Face and gena blue, mesepisternum and external surface of the legs blue with some metallic green reflections, ivory paraocular stripes well developed, wider below, but incomplete, forward side of antennal scape with an ivory and tiny spot ( Fig. 4a View Figure 4 ), scutum and scutellum blue, wings light amber and transparent (fig. 4b), TII-IV integumen violet, V copper-red, VI gold, VII metallic green ( Fig. 4e View Figure 4 ). Pilosity: Face, gena, mesepisternum, propodeum, legs, sterna, and postglandular fringe predominantly white, front, vertex, and scutum disc dark, black and white the pronotal lobes. Punctation: Clypeal disc relatively dense, large to medium punctures, supraclypeal area very dense, practically without gaps, with medium, deep, and irregular punctures, lower paraocular areas sparse, shallow, beveled and medium-sized, upper, dense and with medium and deep punctures, front very dense and, with small and deep punctures ( Fig. 4a View Figure 4 ), mesoscutum dense, small and shallow, but sparse in the distal portion, mesepisternum dense with medium-sized and deep punctures, external face hindtibiae dense becoming sparse, with medium and beveled punctures, TI dense, passing from medium to small punctures, from TII-IV dense and with micropunctures, V very dense, of various sizes and beveled, VI a little sparse, large and beveled, VII also little sparse, but with large and normal punctures.

Female. Unknown.

Geographic records. BRAZIL: Roraima, Amazonas, Pará, Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso e Maranhão .

Etymology. A reference to terga IV-VI resembling a rainbow.

Baits. Methyl salicilate, cineole, vanilin.

Comments. Belonging to the Euglossa (Euglossa) analis species-group for sharing with it the following features as defined by Dressler (1978): “posterior midtibial tuft reduced or lacking, the anterior shallowly notched or attenuate, hindtibia usually rhomboid, teeth 2 or 3, paraocular white markings present, dark-blue violet bees with the terminal terga usually green or bronze”. This species is very similar at first sight to E. mixta Friese, 1899 , whose holotype I had in my hands to study. In Dressler’s (1982a) key, the only one available for the species of Eg. analis species-group, the obligatory steps to arrive at E. mixta are the “posterior mid-tibial tuft quite lacking” (step one, second option and see also his Fig. 1f View Figure 1 ) and its continuity, in the fifth dilemma, second option, the terga V-VII red-bronze. In E. irisa sp. nov., however, there is a tiny posterior tuft in the velvety area ( Fig. 4d View Figure 4 ) but, if the velvety area is dirty or covered by aromatic fragrances, visualization of this tuft is usually more difficult, and TV-VII are metallic red, gold, and green, respectively ( Fig. 4e View Figure 4 ). Apparently, Eg. irisa has an exclusively Amazonian distribution, while its relative, Eg. mixta , occurs from Mexico to southeastern Brazil, except in the Amazon basin. However, I have found some few specimens only in Acre state, it could be another case of species from Central Brazil and the Atlantic Forest that reach that state, as is the case of Eg. securigera Dressler, 1982 , Eg. crassipuncta Moure, 1968 and Eg. ignita , just to give a few examples (for more details about geographic distribution see Nemésio 2009, Moure and Melo 2023, and Oliveira et al. 2025).