Bees from British Guiana / Bulletin of the AMNH, Vol. XXXVIII, Art. XX, pp. 685-690

In connection with the work of the Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoological Society, conducted by Mr. William Beebe, collections of insects, including bees, were made. The present report deals with a series of bees from the Bartica District, and Mr. John Tee Van, in forwarding them, states that almost all of these bees were procured about a clump of several species of nightshades ( Solanum ), which were flowering in thinned-out jungle. I give an artificial key, which will enable one who is not a specialist in bees to separate readily each species from the rest. It will, of course, remain necessary to compare any species with a fuller account to make sure that it is not some form unrepresented in the present collection. The types of the new species and varieties from British Guiana are deposited in The American Museum of Natural History. Species marked P. are from the Penal Settlement; those marked K. occur at Kalacoon.

Melipona interrupta (Latreille).—In the specimen sent, the bands on second and following segments are notched above in middle, with only an obscure linear interruption.
Melipona fasciata barticensis Cockerell.—One specimen has five linear red bands on abdomen, but in another the bands are very indistinct, almost obsolete.
Melipona intermixta Cockerell.—The ground color of the first three abdominal tergites varies; in the lighter forms that of the first is pale fulvous with the shoulders blackish, of the second and third clear ferruginous.
Euglossa singularis Mocsáry.—Judging from the brief description, it appears that E. meliponoides Ducke is probably the same species.
Euglossa decorata Smith, var. ruficauda , new variety
Both sexes with abdomen ferruginous, apically more or less dusky, but the whole effect lighter and redder than typical; scutellum green with the hind margin red. Tuft on female scutellum light fulvous. The female, from Kalacoon, (Hym. 212) is the type of the variety.
Euglossa ignita Smith, var. chlorosoma , new variety