Abstract
A54: Packer, L. A. Porsa, C. Plateaux-Quénu and L. Plateaux. 1999. A cryptic species allied to Evylaeus villosulus (Kirby) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 35: 165-171.
Abstract: Giant and normal-sized samples of the Halictine bee Evylaeus villosuius (Kirby) were scored for 41 allozyme loci. An additional sample of normal sized bees was scored for 33 loci. Genetic differentiation between the two normal sized samples was very small and well within the range expected for conspecific populations. In contrast, there was substantial genetic differentiation between the giant and normal sized bees with 5 fixed differences, 3 loci had almost fixed differences and an additional 8 showed significant allele frequency differences. We conclude that what has previously been referred to as a giant form of E. villosulus actually represents an undescribed species. The new species is known only from a few localities in France, Germany, Austria, Poland and Switzerland whereas the normal size species is much more widespread. The giant bees had the highest heterozygosity of any of our samples indeed, it has one of the highest heterozygosities of any hymenopterous. This suggests that it has not originated recently as a result of some bottleneck effect.