Amegilla karlba

Tilcayo Cats original · Amegilla · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Amegilla karlba is a bee recorded from Arnhem Land, Kakadu and the Kimberley region of northern Australia. It has yellow-ochre abdominal hair bands and was described in 2017 as a member of the Zonamegilla group within Amegilla.

Appearance

Both sexes have the ochre bands and usually orange or brown hairs on the outside of the hind tibia. Females have a short dark streak on that leg and a broad area of pale hair near the end of the abdomen. The latter helps distinguish them from A. indistincta, which has a smaller pale patch. Specialist identification also uses the shape of the male's seventh abdominal sternite.

Description and name

The female designated as the holotype was collected near Mount Cahill in the Northern Territory in June 1973. A holotype is the specimen to which a new species name is formally attached; its collection date can be much earlier than the publication of the name.

The describing authors explain that karlba is a Kuninjku word for yellow ochre, chosen for the bee's abdominal bands. Their comparison with A. indistincta also illustrates why a new name requires more than a difference in colour: the revision considered several body features and genetic evidence together.