''Augochlora leptoloba'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of sweat bee in the genus ''

Augochlora ''Augochlora'' is a genus of sweat bee with over 100 species found across the Nearctic and Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical ter ...

'' and the

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

subgenus ''Electraugochlora''.

History and classification

The species is known from a single female specimen, the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, currently in the private collection owned by Ettore Morone of

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, as number "M-2521", and which was first studied by Dr. Michael S. Engel. Dr. Engel published his

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

in the ''

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History The ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the fields of zoology, paleontology, and geology. It is part of a group of journals published by the American Museum of Natural History, in whic ...

'' volume 250 published in 2000. The subgenus name is a combination of the Latin ''electrum'' meaning "amber" and ''

'', the type genus of the tribe

Augochlorini Augochlorini is a tribe of sweat bees in the subfamily Halictinae. They are found in the Nearctic and Neotropic realms. They typically display metallic coloration, with many species that are red, gold, green, blue, or purple. Genera * '' An ...

. The species name is derived from a combination of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''leptos'' which means "small" and ''lobos'' which means "lobe".

Description

The type specimen is well preserved in early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

( Burdigalian stage)

Dominican amber Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree ''Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil incl ...

from deposits on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

. The presence of an epistomal sulcus, the groove defining the lateral and dorsal margin of the clypeus, places ''A. leptoloba'' within the large genus ''Augochlora''. However, due to the lack of a preoccipital carina, the ridge behind the simple eyes on the top of the head found in the living member of the genus, ''A. leptoloba'' was placed in a new subgenus, ''Electraugochlora''. Overall the holotype has a total length, not including antennae, of and a forewing length of . As a whole the female has a dull metallic green coloration with faint metallic copper highlights to the head, with the region above the mouth being brown. The legs are brown with no discernible highlights, and the wings are

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

with brown veins. The thorax, like the head, is dull metallic green coloration with faint metallic copper highlights and the underside of the abdomen brown and the upper side brown with metallic green highlights. The legs and terga possess a coating of short gold colored hair.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4820460 † Fossil bee taxa Hymenoptera of North America Burdigalian life Neogene Dominican Republic Miocene insects of North America Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Fauna of Hispaniola Insects of the Dominican Republic Fossils of the Dominican Republic Dominican amber Fossil taxa described in 1995 Taxa named by Michael S. Engel