PDF《Paul H. WILLIAMS》

Introduction Bumblebees are important pollinators for both crops and natural ecosystems, especially in mountainous areas (Dias et al.

1999;

Winter et al. 2006). Unfortunately, although bumblebees are well collected, they remain poorly known because they are morphologically homoge- neous (Michener 2007) and because different species often variable but mimic one another closely (Williams 2007). Outside China, one of the richest bumblebee faunas world-wide is in the mountains of Central Asia (Williams et al. 2009: their fig. 1). The major encompassing review of the Central Asian fauna is by Skorikov (1931), although other important contributions from parts of the region have been made by Reinig (1930) and Yefremova (2001). Access to the area has improved in recent years, so a re- assessment is now possible. Between

2000 and 2004, five Kyushu University Expeditions (KUE) visited Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and neighbouring parts of China (Xinjiang), as part of a programme of research into measures to combat desertification (Tadauchi 2005). This paper gives an account of the bumblebee specimens they collected, using an updated nomenclature, as part of a series of papers on the bees from the KUE (e.g. Tadauchi 2006;

Mitai &

Tadauchi 2008;

Tadauchi 2008;

Kuhlmann 2009). Methods Locality and food-plant data are copied from labels with minimal interpretation. The subgeneric system follows Williams et al. (2008). The status of some of the taxa as species is re-assessed from cox1 '

barcode'

data as part of the BEE-BOL campaign to barcode the bees of the world (Packer 2008). Barcoding and analytical proce- dures followed here are described by Williams et al. (in press) and references therein. Material is deposited in the collection of Kyushu University. Results Bombus (Mendacibombus) makarjini Skorikov Bombus mendax ssp. makarjini Skorikov 1910:329 Most of the Central Asian species of Mendacibombus were described by Skorikov (1910) in a key to females. Illustrations of male genitalia were then associated with these names in a later paper (Skorikov 1931: his figs 16-18). Skorikov (1931:213) commented that associating the sexes in Turkestan was difficult because there are three species with broadly overlapping distributions, so that his proposals were provisional. I have examined a series of females and males with Skorikov'

s species determination labels from the Institute of Zoology ESAKIA, (50): 27-36. February 28,

2011 Bumblebees Collected by the Kyushu University Expeditions to Central Asia (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Genus Bombus) Paul H. WILLIAMS Abstract. The Kyushu University Expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China (Xinjiang) between

2000 and

2004 collected

757 bumblebees, which are interpreted here as representing

22 species. Males and females are re-associated between Bombus makarjini and B. turkestanicus. The material is listed by species and compared with earlier lists of bumblebees from Central Asia. Key words: Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus, bee taxonomy, bee systematics, pollinators, hotspots Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. E-mail: [email protected] ESAKIA, (50): 27-36. February 28,

2011 28 P. H. WILLIAMS collection, St Petersburg, and can confirm that they match his publications. In the original descriptions, the darker females of B. makarjini were diagnosed by having the pile of the sterna black, whereas this pile is light yellow for B. turkestani- cus. However, the KUE darker males with black hairs on the anterior margin of the hind tibia have the genitalia with a narrower penis valve, as illustrated for '