The origin of the stingless bee species described by Frederick Smith from Brazilian specimens brought to the London International Exhibition of 1862

Carvalho, Matheus Mourão; Lepeco, Anderson; Melo, Gabriel A. R.

doi:10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2023-0010

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Articles • Rev. Bras. entomol. 67 (2) • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2023-0010 copy

The origin of the stingless bee species described by Frederick Smith from Brazilian specimens brought to the London International Exhibition of 1862

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

For a long time, the provenance of the specimens used by Frederick Smith to describe the species of stingless bees from Brazil remained a mystery. The recent digitalization of 19^th century publications has made possible to trace the origin of the material brought to the London International Exhibition of 1862 by the Brazilian delegation. We document that the bee specimens showed at the International Exhibition, and that served as type material of the species described by Smith, were collected by Manuel Ferreira Lagos, head of the Zoology section of the Comissão Científica de Exploração, during their stay in Ceará, from 1859 to 1861. Even if late, it is important to give due credit to the Comissão Científica de Exploração, and more specifically to Lagos, for the contribution to the knowledge of the stingless bee fauna from Brazil.

Keywords:
Apidae; Brasil; Ceará; Meliponini; Social bees

Order in report	Vernacular names (see report)	Genera and species (text as given in report)	Name given by Smith (1863) Smith, F., 1863. Descriptions of Brazilian honey bees belonging to the genera Melipona and Trigona, which were exhibited, together with samples of their honey and wax, in the Brazilian Court of the International Exhibition of 1862. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 11, 497-512. ¹ 1 Smith was consistent in writing the species epithets given after vernacular names in capital letter.		Nr. in article
1	Limão	Melipona Limão. Smith.	Trigona Limâo	1	1 [T]
2	Cupira	“ Cupira. Sm.	Trigona Cupira	2² 2 In addition to the worker lectotype, Pedro and Camargo (2003, p. 69) also list four additional workers, all of them bearing the numbering label “2”.	2 [T]
3	Jaty	“ Jaty. Sm.	Trigona Jaty	3	3 [T]
4	Mandaçaia	“ Fuscata. St. Farg.	Melipona Mandaçaia	NP	1 [M]
5	Canudo	Melipona Bipunctata. St. Farg. (Mesma especie que o “Urussú.”)	Trigona bipunctata	NE	4 [T]
6	Vamos embóra	“ Recursa. Sm.	Trigona recursa	6	5 [T]
7	Tataira	“ Tataira. Sm.	Trigona Tataira	7	6 [T]
8	Tubibá	“ Tubibá. Sm.	Trigona Tubiba	8	7 [T]
9	Arapna [sic]³ 3 Correct spelling “Arapuá”.	“ Ruficrus. Latr.	Trigona ruficrus, Latr.	NE	8 [T]
10	Mombuca	“ Mombuca. Sm.	Trigona Mombuca	14⁴ 4 In addition to the worker lectotype, Camargo and Moure (1996, p. 109) also list two additional males, all of them bearing the numbering label “14”.	9 [T]
11	Urussú	“ Bipuncata St. Farg. (mesma especie que o “Canudo.”)		NE	4 [T]
12	Mosquito	“ Mosquito. Sm.	Trigona Mosquito	16	10 [T]
13	Sanharó	“ Amalthea. Fabr.	Trigona amalthea	NE	11 [T]
14	Moça branca	“ Dorsalis. Sm.	Trigona dorsalis	18⁵ 5 Based on the type specimen of Trigona meadewaldoi Cockerell deposited at the USNM.	12 [T]
15	Cutiao de purga	“ Mellea. Sm.	Trigona mellea	NE	13 [T]
16	Mondury	“ Mondury. Sm.	Melipona Mondury	NP	2 [M]
17	Manoel d’Abreu	“ Longipes. Sm.⁶ 6 Originally described by Smith (1854) based on specimen from “Pará” (= Belém; collected by Bates).	Trigona longipes ⁷ 7 The taxon described by Smith (1863) under the name Trigona longipes was given the new name Melipona longicrus by Dalla-Torre (1896, p. 580).	NE	14 [T]
18	Enxú	Nectarina Analis. Perty.	Nectarina analis, Shuck.	NE	1 [N]
19	Enxuy	Polybia Enxuy. Sm.	Polybia Enxuy	NE	5 [P]
20	Capuchú	“ Socialis. Sauss.	Polybia socialis, Sauss.	NE	1 [P]
21	Caboclo	“ Sericia. Oliv.	Polybia sericea, Sauss.	NE	2 [P]
22	Boca torta	“ Occidentalis. Sm.	Polybia occidentalis, Sauss.	NE	3 [P]
23	Amarello	“ Fuscicornis. St. Farg.	Polybia fuscicornis, St. Farg.	NE	4 [P]
24	Chapéo	Apoica Pallida. St. Farg.	Apoica pallida, St. Farg.	NE	1 [A]

T = Trigona; M = Melipona; N = Nectarina; P = Polybia; A = Apoica (see Smith, 1863Smith, F., 1863. Descriptions of Brazilian honey bees belonging to the genera Melipona and Trigona, which were exhibited, together with samples of their honey and wax, in the Brazilian Court of the International Exhibition of 1862. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 11, 497-512.); NP = no numbering label present in the specimens; NE = specimens not examined.
¹
Smith was consistent in writing the species epithets given after vernacular names in capital letter.
²
In addition to the worker lectotype, Pedro and Camargo (2003, pPedro, S.R., Camargo, J.M.F., 2003. Meliponini neotropicais: o gênero Partamona Schwarz, 1939 (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 47, 1-117.. 69) also list four additional workers, all of them bearing the numbering label “2”.
³
Correct spelling “Arapuá”.
⁴
In addition to the worker lectotype, Camargo and Moure (1996, pCamargo, J.M.F., Moure, J.S., 1996. Meliponini neotropicais: o gênero Geotrigona Moure, 1943 (Apinae, Apidae, Hymenoptera), com especial referência à filogenia e biogeografia. Arq. Zool. 33 (2-3), 95-161.. 109) also list two additional males, all of them bearing the numbering label “14”.
⁵
Based on the type specimen of Trigona meadewaldoi Cockerell deposited at the USNM.
⁶
Originally described by Smith (1854)Smith, F., 1854. Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, Part 2. Apidae. British Museum, London. based on specimen from “Pará” (= Belém; collected by Bates).
⁷
The taxon described by Smith (1863)Smith, F., 1863. Descriptions of Brazilian honey bees belonging to the genera Melipona and Trigona, which were exhibited, together with samples of their honey and wax, in the Brazilian Court of the International Exhibition of 1862. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 11, 497-512. under the name Trigona longipes was given the new name Melipona longicrus by Dalla-Torre (1896, pDalla-Torre, C.G., 1896. Catalogus Hymenopterorum; Hucusque Descriptorum Systematicus et Synonymicus. Vol. 10. Engelmann, Leipzig.. 580).

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[1] *Corresponding author.E-mail: garmelo@ufpr.br (G.A.R. Melo).