Anoplius papago Banks 1941

D. C. to Kans., s. to Fla. and Ariz. and Costa Rica.

Nests in loamy soil.

Anoplius (Anoplius) papago Banks
Anoplius papago Banks, 1941, Canad. Ent., 73: 120 [Type: $ , Arizona: Tucson (F. H. Snow) (MCZ, no. 25, 263)]. — Dreisbach, 1950, Amer. Midi. Nat., 43: 584-585. — Evans, 1951, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 76: 356 (erroneously placed in synonymy with tarsatus Banks).
Anoplius subtarsatus Dreisbach, 1950, Amer. Midi. Nat., 43: 578-579 [Type: S, North Carolina: Raleigh, 9 May 1940 (D. L. Wray) (N. Car. Dept. Agri.)]. — Evans, 1951, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 76: 353 (erroneously placed in synonymy with ventralis Banks). New synonym.
Anoplius guatemalensis Dreisbach, 1952, Amer. Midi. Nat., 48: 154-155 [Type: 8, Guatemala (no further data) (MCZ, no. 30, 617)]. New synonym.
Anoplius (Anoplius) papago Evans, 1964, Jour. Kansas Ent.' Soc, 37: 304 (biology).
This species occupies a central position in a difficult complex. It is very closely related indeed to the preceding species, alticola, but the range of alticola is included within the much broader range of papago and the two nevertheless remain distinct. The case of subtarsatus is different; this is an eastern U. S. form supposed to differ in minor characters from papago. Dreisbach indicated that papago lacks strong hair-brushes on the third sternite, but this is by no means the case; he also indicates certain genitalic differences between these two forms, but his photographs fail to substantiate this. Actually, eastern U. S. specimens lack silvery pubescence on the head and tend to have longer setae at the base of the digitus and to average slightly longer parameres. I have examined numerous specimens from the eastern states and from Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas, and it appears to me that these minor differences all vary clinally, so that it is not feasible to maintain subtarsatus as a subspecies of papago. I have included below all U. S. records for papago known to me, as the range has not been worked out previously. Separation of eastern females from the very similar species ventralis is difficult; the front and vertex of papago females is narrower than in ventralis, and the third antennal segment about equal to UID.
This species is also closely related to toluca Cameron ( = tarsatus Banks, with which I previously confused it). However, it is broadly sympatric with that species in Mexico, and the two maintain their minor differences. North of the range of papago (but still mainly within the range of toluca) there is another, previously unrecognized form described on a later page as dreisbachi. The females of this form are not clearly distinguishable from those of papago, and it might be asked why this form should not be considered a subspecies of papago. Possibly it should be, but there are differences in the ventral hair-brushes and genitalia of the males of greater magnitude than is usually used to separate species in this complex.
Still another closely related form occurs south of the known range of papago, in Colombia and Ecuador. This is ambatoensis (Cameron), of which I consider bolivari Banks and williamsi Banks to be synonyms. 25 The genitalia and ventral hair-brushes of this form are strikingly like those of papago, but the setae on the digiti are straighter; furthermore it is a decidedly more bluish form than papago, and the front of the female averages broader. Tentatively I consider dreisbachi, papago, and ambatoensis to constitute a series of allopatric species, which might conveniently be called the papago superspecies. These in turn belong with toluca, alticola, and the eastern U. S. species illinoensis and ventralis in a very closely knit species complex, the illinoensis species-group. The last word has surely not been said on this complex, but I do feel that study of the Mexican
25 Anoplius {Anoplius) ambatoensis (Cameron) is a new combination; this species was described from Ambato, Ecuador, at 8600 feet, as Hypoferreola ambatoensis (1903, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, 29: 229-230). Synonymy of the two Banks' names is new; bolivari was described from females from Vista Nieve, Colombia, at 5000 feet (1945, Bol. Ent. Venez., 4: 104-105), williamsi from both sexes from several localities in Ecuador (1947, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 99: 417-418).
and Central American fauna, particularly the proper definition of papago, has greatly clarified it.
Female. — Length 9-14 mm.; fore wing 7.5-12 mm. Black; pubescence very fine, with moderately strong bluish reflections; wings fuscous, violaceous. Clypeus, front, vertex, and front coxae with numerous setae; temples and propleura densely hairy; thoracic dorsum with scattered hairs; mesopleura and propodeum with abundant fine, dark setae; abdomen setose below and on the apical segments above, the last tergite densely bristly. Clypeus about 2.5 X as wide as high, truncate or weakly concave below. Head 1.10-1.14 X as wide as high, the vertex virtually straight across between the eye tops. Front narrow, barely wider than the two eyes taken together, MID .52-.55 X TFD, 1.17-1.23 X LID, .72-.80 X eye height; UID .86-.94 X LID. POL:OOL about as 9:10. Third antennal segment considerably longer than first two together, equally from .90 to slightly over 1.0 X UID. Characters of the thorax, wings, and fore tarsi as described for alticola. Longer spur of hind tibia .52-. 63 X the length of the basitarsus (mean .57); spines in the median row beneath the hind basitarsus numbering 7 to 1 1 (mean 8.6).
Male. — Length 6-10.5 mm.; fore wing 5-9 mm. Black; pubescence with moderately strong bluish reflections, conspicuously silvery on the sides of the lower front (except in eastern U. S. specimens); wings moderately infuscated, darker along the outer margin. Head and prothorax with numerous erect setae; propodeum prominently hairy; S2 usually with a few setae, S3-5 with strong brushes of hairs which are continuous across the sternites, although shorter medially; in lateral view these hair-brushes are broad, continuous or very slightly separated at the intersegmental lines. Clypeus 2.1-2.4 X as wide as high, truncate below. Head subcircular in anterior view, slightly wider than high, vertex arched very gently above the eye tops. Front rather narrow, MID .54-.59 X TFD; UID 1.0-1.1 X LID; POL : OOL = about 4:5. Third antennal segment 2.5-3.0 X as long as wide, slightly longer than fourth segment in most specimens. Features of thorax differing in no notable way from those of alticola; longer spur of hind tibia .70-. 80 X length of hind basitarsus. Venter with strong brushes of hairs on S3-5, as described above. SGP with the median portion narrowly elevated, hirsute, the apex narrowly rounded; toward the base, the sides of the plate flare out considerably and are unpigmented (fig. 81). Genitalia with the parameres shorter than the digiti, the portion beyond the squama 2.0-2.6 X as long as the width at the squama (except eastern U. S. specimens sometimes up to 3.0, and the parameres actually exceeding the digiti slightly); digiti shaped much as in alticola, but with much longer setae most of which curve strongly upward (fig. 47; see also figs. 22 and 28 in Dreisbach, 1950, and fig. 18 in Dreisbach, 1952).
Distribution. — Costa Rica to Arizona, toward the south chiefly at moderate to fairly high elevations (3000-9000 feet), also east to Florida, north to Kansas and the District of Columbia (Dreisbach reports a paratype of subtarsatus from Stamford, Conn., but I have not seen this specimen). (Map 63.)
United States specimens examined. — 10 2 2, 18 8 8. District of Columbia: 2 8 8 , Washington, Oct. 1936 (M. S. Vogel) [MCZ]. Virginia: 1 8 , Glencarlyn, June (NB) [MCZ]; 1 8 , Dyke, May (NB) [MCZ]. North Carolina: 2 2 2,1 8, Highlands, MayAug. (Mason, Chillcott) [CNC]. Tennessee: 2 8 8 , Great Smoky Mts., May, June 1957 (W. R. M. Mason) [CNC]. Florida: 1 8 , Orlando, March [MCZ]. Louisiana: 1 8 , Darrow, June [MCZ]. Kansas: 1 2, Manhattan, May, June (HEE, RHP) [MCZ]; 2 2 2, 4 8 8 , Pottawatomie Co., May, July, Aug. (HEE) [MCZ]. Texas: 1 2,1 $ , Giddings, 6 July 1952 (HEE) [MCZ]; 2 8 8 , Fedor, June (Birkman) [MCZ]; 1 8 , 6 mi. E San Benito, 9 May 1958 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 5 mi. W Fort Davis, 25 July 1947 (B. D. Valentine) [MCZ]. Arizona: 1 2, near Dos Cabezas, 17 Sept. 1958 [MCZ];
1 8 , Tucson (F. H. Snow) [type, MCZ]; 1 2 , 5 mi. W Portal, 5400 feet, 11 Sept. 1956 (E. Ordway) [AMNH].
Mexican and Central American specimens examined. — 100 2 2 , 141 8 $ . Durango: 1 2 , Palos Colorados, 8000 feet, 5 Aug. 1947 (Schramel) [AMNH]. Nayarit: 1 2, Vic. Compostela, 34 July [MCZ]. Michoacan: 1 2, Morelia, 15 July 1956 (RRD) [MSU]; 3 2 2, Tuxpan, May, July (HAS, HEE) [OSU, MCZ]. Mexico: 1
2 , 44 km. W Toluca, 8220 feet, 28 June 1948 (W. Nutting) [MCZ]; 2 2 2,1 <$ , Ixtapan de la Sal, 4-10 Oct. 1958, 6500 feet (E. G. Matthews) [MCZ]; 1 2,1 8, Valle de Bravo, 6500 feet, 3 Aug. 1962 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 33 km. N Acambay, 7600 feet, 8 Aug. 1962 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , 7 km. S Amecameca, 8000 feet, 12 Aug. 1962 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2, W Slope Popocatepetl, 10,000 feet, 31 March 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]. Morelos: 80 2 2, 131 8 8, Cuernavaca and vicinity, MarchJuly 1959, 5000-7500 feet (HEE, RRD) [CU, MCZ, USNM, MSU]; 1 8, Tepoztlan, 15 June 1956 (C. M. Yoshimoto) [MCZ]; 1 8, Canyon de Lobos, near Yautepec, 13 March 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]; 2 8 8 , Las Estacas, 3000 feet, 6 April 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 8 , 3 mi. N Alpuyeca, 3400 feet, 9 March 1959 [MCZ]. Veracruz: 2 2 2, Minatitlan, 26 Aug.-l Sept. 1961 (RRD) [MSU]. Chiapas: 1 2,1 8 , 20 mi. W San Cristobal las Casas, 3 May 1959 (HEE) [MCZ]; 1 2 , Navenchauc, 2 April 1953 (RCB & E7S) [CIS]; 1 2 , 9 mi. S Ixtapec, 1 April 1953 (RCB &
• Anoplius (Anoplius) papogo Bonks (also transcontinental in U.S.)
EIS) [CIS]; 1 2, 15 mi. NW Comitan, 3 Aug. 1952 (EG & CM) [CIS]. Guatemala: 1 $ , no specific locality [MCZ]. Honduras: 1 9 , Minas de Oro, Comay, 4000 feet, 1 June (J. B. Edwards) [MCZ]. Costa Rica: 1 2 , Guapiles, July 1915 (D. E. Harrower) Variation. — Except for limited variation in size and some structural details, as expressed above, this species is remarkably uniform all the way from Arizona to Costa Rica. Several east Texas specimens (e.g., the male from San Benito) are virtually identical to the type, but most specimens from Texas and Kansas eastward have the pubescence duller, rather obscurely reflecting bluish. The pubescence of the lower front is cinereous or obscurely silvery in the Kansas males, also in most Texas males and that from Louisiana, but it is dark in specimens from farther east. Typically there are no long setae at the base of the digitus, but some eastern specimens have one or two fairly long setae here, and some Kansas and Texas specimens are intermediate in this respect. The parameres of one male from Washington, D. C, are unusually long (apical part measuring about 3 X as long as width at squama), but the second male from the same locality is quite different (apical part measuring only about twice the width at the squama). Thus it appears to be impossible to draw any distinct line between subtarsatus and papago.