Learn to ID Bees-20240417_130332-Meeting Recording

April 17, 2024, 5:03PM

1h 3m 3s

Droege, Sam   0:08
Alright.
Well, I'll just say that obviously I'm saying Drogi and Tom, I've worked with and given away, giving him a bunch of specimens that have turned into some really interesting things that we might not touch on here and there.
And I'm sure that since that time he's added a lot more information about EPS and I use his guide all the time we are in the slow process of integrating a lot of his work and to discover life.
I think we've ingested all his pictures, but I'm gonna turn it over to you, Tom.
You can give a little bit of background and then we'll just get into it and you can run it how you want and we'll back you up.
But basically just I think you've talked with clear about just stepping through the guide and these are technical people.

Tom Onuferko   0:53
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   0:56
So they're interested in interpretations of the characters and how you go about thinking about it.
And then questions me pop up.

Tom Onuferko   1:04
OK.
Well, thanks, Sam.
So yes, I'm, I'm Tom on a ferraco.
I I'm a taxonomist mainly and I've revised the BG, the CPO list for almost all new world species, and I've lately been working on taxonomic revisions of other bee genera, including Sarah Maletta, which which is now known as Brachium Alecta, and I also have a few papers on the way revising groups of the Beijing is tribalist, but today I'll be talking about Echoless.
It's fair.
It's a large genus but mid sized and North America, so around the world there's more than 110 species, but in North America north of Mexico there are 44.
That's the current number of valid species, and in the Americas, including Central America and South America, there's about 59 species in the genus.
But I'm just gonna focus on the ones occurring in the United States and Canada.

Droege, Sam   2:11
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   2:11
There's no species that are endemic to Canada, so all the ones that occur in Canada also occur in the US so as Sam mentioned, uh there, the key on the Discover life free pills right now is is outdated.
I think it's mainly based on Mitchell's Key.
Umm, although the key that I will be going through today is eventually gonna be posted and shared in a discover life friendly format with discovered life terminology for those of you who are more comfortable.
Umm with that, but for now I'll just point you to my.
Uh to the key published in my Zookeys revision and that link is available in the chat here.
So yeah, I'm gonna have to share my screen in a second.

Droege, Sam   3:04
And it was also sent out in the email that comes out for people.

Tom Onuferko   3:09
OK.
So let me just.

Droege, Sam   3:13
On the tap.

Tom Onuferko   3:15
OK, so does everyone see that?

Droege, Sam   3:19
Uh, yes.

Tom Onuferko   3:20
OK, there's also a link to I naturalist, so Equalists, if you're not that familiar with the genus, they're rather photogenic bees, and a lot of people are imagining them.
And they're also one of the few bees that can actually be identified from images of live specimens.
Generally the it's very important in EPL identification or the patterns of pubescence on the mesosome and metasoma as well as and tagging.
My coloration there are other, you know, more subtle differences in characters that that separate species, but they are one of the rarer groups of bees that can be identified on the wing.
And I actually, you know, I go on to inaturalist a lot and I and just pull this up.

Droege, Sam   4:15
I like.
I like Claire's comment before the talk, he said.
Like.
Yeah, Tom's on.
I naturalist aggressively.
Not sure why.

Tom Onuferko   4:24
I don't know about aggressive but but I do check it regularly, but there's a, you know, in addition to, you know, wanting to communicate tax on concepts to other people, I I use it as a source of data more lately in my research papers I've been citing inaturalist records under non preserved material because you get a lot of interesting data points on maps for species.

Droege, Sam   4:27
I thought it was cute.

Tom Onuferko   4:48
So it's a very rich resource and here I've filtered out all the.
Epoll List records on there.
I'll limit it to the United States just.
So we don't get other species and this is a good resource because it also gives you an idea of how commonly encountered or observed various species are.

Droege, Sam   5:06
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   5:12
So you can see that by far the most.
Photographed specimens are epls by fascias and epli scoot Alaris.
That gives you an idea of what you might be more likely to encounter in the field in your own biodiversity surveys.
So I'll refer to this periodically as I as I'm keen specimens or going through the key just so you can, you know, get a sense of the variation of of different features and and how they look from different angles.
But yeah, so that's the link to that is also in the chat and I'll just go back to.
Umm my my revision.
So, uh, there was one species that was discovered after this was published and named and described in 2022.
So that's not included in this key.
Umm, I've also the the species is described in this paper in the journal Insecta Mundi.
It's limited to the largely to the Pacific Northwest, so probably won't be that commonly encountered, but it does include.
A modification to the zoo keys key that enables the identification of this species and it is it has been incorporated into the what will be the discover life key so that will be complete when it's up.
But just to let you know that one species is missing from this.
From this particular paper, so I think you know separating EPL's from Tripolis has already, you know, been and discussed in a in a previous recording is my understanding.
So I won't go through those details too much, but there is a a generic diagnosis in here that you can consult if you're not entirely sure if you have.
Here it is.
If you have epulis or Tripolis, but I will skip that.
Umm, the terminology used in this publication largely follows uh Mitchner 2007, but there are some terms that I've adopted from Molly Wright Meier's works, and there are in reference to the patterns of pubescence on the mesosome and metazoa, and they're described here.
I'll I'll explain what they are in the key, but if you're ever not sure what I'm talking about, you can just refer back to to this particular image.

Droege, Sam   7:48
And Tom, just to interrupt very briefly was it, is it EPS, is it lectroid's, is that the one that looks a lot like a tripolis on the surface?

Tom Onuferko   7:48
I'm umm.
There is.
So there are different species that may be confused with with Tripolis.
I think it's so that equals like toadies is an example of a of a species that has with the pseudo pedial areas more elongate and almost bell shaped.

Droege, Sam   8:18
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   8:20
There's a there's quite a few species like that, and almost all are in the are in the southeast, but that is probably the most commonly encountered one in that group.

Droege, Sam   8:23
OK.

Tom Onuferko   8:32
There's also, confusingly, a species of Tripolis that has a very epiales like pseudo pigeon area.
I think Tripolis Molinari, as is the species that has.
If you were to just look at the pseudo pygidial area, you would think it's an EPO list.
But if you look at the protruding as six, it's very clearly a I tripolis there are, yeah, other features that I don't might not have been covered that separate the two genera.
It's I'm one of the emails.
As most people know, are much more difficult to tell apart from females.
But you know, there are no species of Tripolis that have an inner tooth on the mandible in all species of Tripolis.
The mandibles are simple and in most species of VPLS there's an inner tooth, but there are exceptions, so it's not 100% reliable for separating mails.
I think probably the most reliable means of doing so is by looking at the genitalia, but that's difficult to do because they have to be excised and they aren't necessarily excised, and specimens, once they've been pinned, I can briefly pull up.
I'm Molly, right?
Meyers revision and show that let me just.

Droege, Sam   9:55
I think it even though we have covered it, I think at the start here this is good to just talk about that a little bit because people are come into the online recorded sessions in no particular order.
So yeah, just a little bit because I know I've been tricked.
Electrolytes is the one that's has tripped me up more than once because I make assumptions about, you know, the pseudo pedial area and things like that and I get caught.

Tom Onuferko   10:24
Yeah.
So there are.

Droege, Sam   10:25
Because I've tried, I'll try and keep it out in Malley's key and it's like this is really not coming out anywhere.

Tom Onuferko   10:26
Yeah, there are.
Yeah.
My my key doesn't work very well for tribulus that's, but yeah, it's it's and mails are.

Droege, Sam   10:37
Right.

Tom Onuferko   10:41
Generally, females are generally easier to tell apart, especially if you look at the Essex, the Essex and the hidden 6 sternum, which which has to be excised.
But usually protrudes a little bit.
It's it's diagnostic for for EPO plus, there's no other EPL mini genera that have anything looking, you know, remotely similar.
But males are much more difficult.
But one way to reliably do so, I don't know if you can see this.
Can you see the screen with the?

Droege, Sam   11:09
We can see your cursor.
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   11:10
OK, so this is an illustration of of genital capsules and profile.

Droege, Sam   11:11
But Sam, could you turn on your speaker a little bit?

Tom Onuferko   11:16
Beg your pardon?

Droege, Sam   11:17
But why did you say you turn up your speaker a little bit? Yes.

Tom Onuferko   11:23
OK.

Droege, Sam   11:23
3rd interrupt.

Tom Onuferko   11:25
Umm, so this is the picture of of general capsules and profile in Molly Wright Meier's dissertation, published in 2006.
Umm.
So EP in in Ebola is the Ghana stylus.
Has this really unique bulging lobe?
That is absent and Tripolis this, I think, is the genitalia of Tripolis pillars.
And this is a I think, an African species of EPL list, and there's also.
If if in this these are images of the the penis and an EPO list in most species, and there are some exceptions, I'm the penis itself has a pair of these large, later, fleshy lateral lobes.
Those are absent and tripel lists, and they are also absent in epulis by fasciatus and the species that are in the trophic lecture group.
But those are if you're really not sure and you don't wanna, you know, go through the trouble of barcoding specimens.
Or something like that.
You can always exercise the terminalia.
UM, I should also mention that.
I am happy to assist people with identifying specimens every once in a while I'll get a request someone might send me images of specimens.
They're unsure of the ID and they want me to check I'm more than happy to do that.
I don't.
As I said, these requests aren't streaming in in large numbers.
This is not a genius like Lazio gossom, where I'm sure Jason gets tired of repeated requests to identify large numbers of specimens.
These don't tend to be collected in large numbers, and these surveys, if they, you know, show up at all.

Droege, Sam   13:08
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   13:09
So I'm always happy to.
I'm check ID and the only thing that I ask is that if if this is for a paper and you're start and in the methodology would be good to cite the tax on concepts upon which the ideas were based.
But yeah, I'm happy to do so and don't expect anything in return.
So feel free to email me and even today, if you have pictures that you wanna upload, I'm at any point I can.
I'm happy to take a look and and and let you know what I think, so I'll jump right.
To the key it's at the.

Droege, Sam   13:48
And Tom, just one one observation that in terms of commonness, it seems to me that Epulis might hold the record for the number of species that might be in a given area and the uncommonness of those species like it's a really, really uncommon species.
We almost we will, will run on a yearly basis.
We may not get any EP.
Listen to the lab, for example.

Tom Onuferko   14:17
And and in your state you very you know, you might very well have 11:50 species.
So that is a yeah, a good point.
Tripolis probably will take the cake on that one.
On that record, but especially in the the Southwest.
But yeah, Equalises is there.
It's amazing how diverse they are.
And yet, how infrequently encountered they are?
That probably has to do with the fact that they're very closely tied to a single host genus.
I'm like general like celiac axis or nomada epiales have just parasitized a single genus of of bees and that is collides.
I'm and yeah, there's this interesting stories about that so.
There's a, you know, current paper that's in prep.
Umm, where in a species that I described in this zookies paper epulis Andrei when I described it was known for only two specimens collected in the Jug Bay Wetlands area, and it's since popped up in Oklahoma, which is like really far out.

Droege, Sam   15:20
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   15:26
But I barcode it a specimen.
The the holotype of the species happened to have been barcoded, and the barcodes match.
They confirm what I suspected based on morphology and it was collected in an area where there was tons of Cuscuta and those CUDA or daughter flowers are being visited by I think it was collides stilettos.
I'm not entirely sure.
Early 20s.
One of those two, and so this, you know, it might be a whole lot more common than we thought, but who's collecting bees off this very specific plant?
I have it only not a whole lot of people.

Droege, Sam   16:03
Well.
The the better, but also the original site, the Jug Bay site that is also where they have collected Khalidi Ciliatus and is the only place in the state that we currently know about it.
But again, who looks at daughter?

Tom Onuferko   16:23
Yeah, yeah.

Droege, Sam   16:24
This was specifically, I would say it's probably a.
It seemed like in both those cases that this is a wetland daughter species, it's difficult to tell the daughters apart too.

Tom Onuferko   16:38
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   16:38
October on daughter.
For all the all the above.

Tom Onuferko   16:42
And September is when I think all the specimens that I've seen have been collected.
Umm, that that reminds me of another point.
So for each of these species there is a range map.
Umm, but you know, take it as a grain of salt for the species that are represented by very few specimens.
So this is an example of, you know, that's the where EPL, Sandra, that's the type locality and it's since it's popped up in Oklahoma you know first for species that are far more abundant than this one.
You know, you might get a get an idea, like something epulis by fascias.
I mean, that's a very distinctive species, but if you were to, you know, if you thought you might have this species and it was really out of range.
Then you know this is a pretty good, I think, actually pretty accurate representation of where you're most likely to.
You know where you're where you should find it.
So the maps are are useful.
There are certain things that like you know, equals desperados.
I wouldn't expect to find far beyond the beyond California, given that all the records that I've seen are from that state.
So if you have one in the in, uh, you know in Kansas or Nebraska, that's probably another species that's very similar to it, probably peel samaritana.
So you can use the maps to help.
You know, you know to guide you and and identifying things and I think that's one thing that's often missing from a lot of taxonomic papers is, is actual, you know, distribution maps of species.
But I do find that there are a useful tool.
And I often check discover life records when I want to, you know, verify that I have something and, you know, determine whether it's plausible that what I have actually, you know, or what I that it's that my idea is plausible based on where I've collected the specimen.
But anyways, I'll jump right to the key.
So this key is fully illustrated and one thing I like about this journal is that the couplets are all the figures.
Citations are all hyperlinked, so if you just go to the couplet and you click on one figure, it'll pop up right next to the couplet where you are.
So there's no scrolling back and forth in this key, which is really nice.
I'm yeah, I structured this key to try to make it as evenly bifurcated as possible, so minimizing the number of steps required to identify all all specimens to species.
One of the issues with dichotomous keys is that often I'm they're constructed in the way that a species is sort of crossed off 1 by 1, and you may need to get to, you know through 40 couplets to identify the most common species in the genus.
So I wanted to minimize the amount of steps required to identify all species.
Umm.
And so that's why there might be, you know, in the initial splits, there might be fewer characters to look at.
Umm.
Ideally you'd wanna have as many features as possible to look at, but in this case I you know, in the first couplet I I selected a character that is quite reliable, but it's just a single character, so you really have to get the hang of it.
So the first character here is refers to the posterior extent of the axilla, and this is relative to the length of the Mesos Vitalium saw this blow up this picture here and so these are, you know, the exilia of of an Ebola species.
This is Cpl spec fasciatus.
Here's the reasons.
Good.
Tell them, and I've drawn a line of how far back it goes.
And so the first half of the couplet basically leads to the species where the axilla extent further than 2/3 the length of the measles scutellum.
The other one is less than that.
It's, you know, might seem like an arbitrary cutoff, but it is quite reliable.
There's only one species I found that has to be keyed in both places.
That's epulis lectus.
And so, you know, regardless of which of those steps you take, you can still get to that species.
But for the other ones?
Umm, it's.
Yeah, it's quite.
Uh in variable.
And so here I show an example of what the you know of the minimum posterior extent, and then you can look at examples of of species where it goes even further than that here, like an EPL is scoot Alaris.
It's pretty much at the, you know, posterior extent of the the missus kuttalam and then let's close these windows and then if you look at the other half of the couplet, here is what the maximum posterior extent looks like.
So it's pretty close to.
It's only a little umm.
You only.
Yeah, they don't.
The only slightly extends you know, not as far anteriorly as the as in the other couple of this species is very rare.
I don't think I've seen specimens of it collected more recently than the 1930s, so it may very well be extinct.
Umm this is the PLS bank side.
That's a good one to keep your eyes open for.
But there are examples of, you know exactly that are far, much clearly much shorter than that.
So in this species, if you're lists asperatus, it doesn't even extend past the mid length of the scutellum.
Uh, so when using this key, it really helps to have a calibrated by actually don't even need to be calibrated and ocular micrometer within the eyepiece to measure as you get more comfortable gauging the length than it probably won't be necessary to use A and and it probably only really is necessary for the species where.
Umm, where it's, you know, closest to the cutoff line.
But generally you can tell quite easily.
You know where the excellent end up.
And so, yeah, I'm.
I'm sort of.
Sam, do you wanna pull it?
Maybe an example of one of the specimens you have.
I don't know if it makes sense, umm, to just try to, you know, it can.

Droege, Sam   23:20
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   23:22
Yeah, it doesn't matter which which one.
I think most of you as well.
I'm key to the uh, well, key out earlier in the key but.

Droege, Sam   23:34
Yeah, I'll.
I'll pull a scutellaria since I have a lot of those things, and I mean while I'm setting it up, you can talk about other things.

Tom Onuferko   23:36
OK.
Sure.

Droege, Sam   23:44
It could go take me a second to get it in the viewfinder and all that kind of good stuff.

Tom Onuferko   23:49
So let me see if I, yeah, schoolers was the.

Droege, Sam   23:55
It's the most common in Maryland, which is the same.

Tom Onuferko   23:57
It's very it's a very common species.
It's it's comes out late summer.
I think that's you'll start encountering males in late July and August and then through September here, at least in our area.
But it is a very commonly encountered a species of VPLS like I've got 2 unit trays of it in my own collection.
There's 137 observations on I naturalist.
It's presumed Hostess colitis.
Uh.
From you lands so which is a common species on visits, a variety of flowers, but I found it very utmost, commonly associated with solidago various goldenrod.
But it does go to all sorts of other asters, so that is, yeah, one of the more common it it piola species. Especially in.

Droege, Sam   24:44
Yep.

Tom Onuferko   24:52
Yeah, in eastern North America, they get rare out West.
So that is a species in which the excella go back almost all the way to the end of the scutellum, and quite obviously so.
And so we'll skip ahead to couple it two.

Droege, Sam   25:06
Yeah. So.
Well, if you want, I've got it on deck now.

Tom Onuferko   25:10
Or do you want?

Droege, Sam   25:12
So we can do you want me to flip it over?

Tom Onuferko   25:12
OK, sure. Yeah.

Droege, Sam   25:14
OK.
So we'll go to the screen and is it up, do you see see something?
Yep.

Tom Onuferko   25:25
Yes.

Droege, Sam   25:25
Alright, Tom, you see it too.

Tom Onuferko   25:27
Yep.

Droege, Sam   25:29
Alright, actually.

Tom Onuferko   25:29
Yeah. So.

Droege, Sam   25:32
There.

Tom Onuferko   25:35
Yeah, it's.

Droege, Sam   25:35
Ma'am, your pointer small.
Ohh I'll make my pointer really big.
Hang on for one second.

Tom Onuferko   25:43
So I would when looking at it, I would try to look at it kind of like it is in the image, just flat from you know as as.
Yep.
As you know from the top, as opposed to sort of in an oblique view like, yeah, yeah.
As close to I guess what you'd consider a perfect dorsal view as possible, because obviously if you rotate the specimen in some views it will look the like the actually don't go that far back and then some it it will umm.
And so that is, you know, one thing to consider is like Matt, match it up to how it's shown in the image when you're when you're using the key.
But in this species, they're so big that you can kind of see even where.
You know that it goes past.
There's sort of a Ridge on the horizontal dorsal portion of the scutellum.
Yeah, exactly where we're Sam's pointing.
Has this cursor.
You can see that even in that view, they extend past it. Umm.

Droege, Sam   26:37
If.

Tom Onuferko   26:41
And then and the scutellum scutella mix extends further down.
But I think most of the most of the comparisons that I make with reference to the accelerator just to the dorsal portion, and there's usually a richer Carina at the end of the.

Droege, Sam   26:54
Yeah, it's difficult to see because of lack of shadow here that that there is a a pretty strong edge along this this line that I'm showing.

Tom Onuferko   27:06
Yeah.
So, uh, now proceed to the.
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   27:12
Begin you can you can hit sharing.

Tom Onuferko   27:12
Next couplet, I don't know if.

Droege, Sam   27:17
I'm I'm stopping sharing, but I don't know if that flips to you.

Tom Onuferko   27:19
OK.

Droege, Sam   27:21
If not, yeah.
So you'll have to share upper upper rate.

Tom Onuferko   27:24
Yeah.
Here we go.
Do you see it now?

Droege, Sam   27:29
I think it looks like it's trying to load.
There we go. Yep.

Tom Onuferko   27:35
OK, so we skipped ahead to second couple it because we can see how far back the acceler go.
I'm here.
I basically just.
Cross out a a very easily identified species in North America appeals by fasciitis, which has a whole bunch of unique features.
Equals good Lars doesn't have that with those features are.
I'll just compare so equals by fasciitis is unique among North American uh species because it's got these frontal protrusions.
Umm, it's only members of this.
Predominantly Neotropical species group that have these protrusions on the frontal area.
That group is referred to as the Trophy Claptrap group.
Umm, it's not present in EPL muscularis.
Also, as the name indicates by fasciatus, has only two bands on the metasoma.
Umm this is because this species is a.
It's a humanized mimic.
It's a Potter wasp mimic.
So if if you've seen enough Potter Wasps, you'll notice that, umm, the second tergum is like really expanded and this species gives the illusion of an expanded second tergum by having a only a a basal facia on T1 and an apical phasia on T2.
And so this you might not even immediately recognize as an EPL.
You might recognize this as a as a like, uh, you will generous or something.
So it's really quite distinctive.
And so epulis Scutellaria doesn't have that has bands on all the metasoma targa.
Umm well developed ethical phase.
CA on T1 through T4 in females or through T7 in in males, and I think those are the only characters there, so I'm not Sam.
If you wanna pull.
Pull the specimen back.

Droege, Sam   29:58
Bypass yetis?
Ohh, you want that scutellaria pack?

Tom Onuferko   30:02
Yeah.
Just to just to show that it doesn't have those features.

Droege, Sam   30:04
Yeah. OK.

Tom Onuferko   30:07
Sorry.
Maybe.

Droege, Sam   30:09
Again.

Tom Onuferko   30:09
Maybe it's better if you just hold.
Yeah, keep it next to you.

Droege, Sam   30:12
I'll just keep it.
Keep it on deck.

Tom Onuferko   30:15
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   30:22
Ohh are we sorry?
Is it are your guides male and female or or both?

Tom Onuferko   30:28
That's the excellent point.
So I didn't.
I didn't mention that at the start.
This is epiales are largely sexually monomorphic, so this particular key will work for both sexes.

Droege, Sam   30:37
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   30:42
If there are any sex specific features, then there are explicitly indicated as such in the key and they're always features that can tell the other sex apart in that same couplet.
So I think when we put the when when we started to put together the discover life equivalent, it will be separated by uh.
There will be female and male versions of the key.
The largely be the same.

Droege, Sam   31:06
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   31:07
Umm, but for those who are more used to, you know, keying, you know, using sex specific keys.
They'll have that available in that format, but this key that I'm going through today will work for both sexes.
So here as you can see there's, you know distinct bands on all the Madison trigger 123456 and a tiny little 7th panel.
I think they're too, but yeah, clearly more than in by fasciatus.
And if you were to look closely at the head, you'd see that there's no clear protrusions.

Droege, Sam   31:45
We don't necessarily need to see that because it's so distinct, yeah.

Tom Onuferko   31:47
Yeah, we don't.
Yeah, it's showing.
Yeah, it's always seeing the absence in highlighting the absence of the features and always necessarily useful.
So we can, I guess we can skip ahead.

Droege, Sam   31:58
Yeah. OK.

Tom Onuferko   31:58
Umm, let me, maybe I don't know if I should just keep.
Maybe I should read the couplets while you hold the specimen?
Would that be easier, sandy, think or OK.

Droege, Sam   32:05
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, so the the the way to go here is we could flip back and forth and Claire can also sometimes she'll hold the.
Uh, the guide in place and you could have pictures ready to go, and I could have a specimen if we want to.

Tom Onuferko   32:21
OK.

Droege, Sam   32:27
Kind of.
See in a live action shot, but so you.

Tom Onuferko   32:31
OK.

Droege, Sam   32:32
But you you're basically the boss, so you can tell me like I wanna see scholaris in this certain view or whatever.

Tom Onuferko   32:35
OK.
OK, so you're still sharing your screen.
I see, right?

Droege, Sam   32:44
Yeah.
So you can you just grab it when you wanna go to look at something that you have.

Tom Onuferko   32:48
OK.
Maybe, maybe we'll just.
Yeah, do it that way.
Just so people can follow along.

Droege, Sam   32:52
OK.

Tom Onuferko   32:53
See where I am in the key too, as opposed to just.

Droege, Sam   32:55
Yeah, I think that's important.

Tom Onuferko   32:56
I'm talking so, uh, let me go back to the feature.
So now, yeah, so we've ruled ruled out equals by fascias.
So now we'll continue to couple it three, this is a bit of a tricky one it basically.
It has ifs and you know if then characters in it, but basically it's separates the species that have enlarged.
Actually, that aren't distinctly hooked on on the inner margin and that are like dilated latterly or arcuate as the term I think I use here.
So basically it separates the species that where the I'm in a margin of the X silly or relatively straight and the outer margins are distinctly dilated.
Does that makes Sam?
Are you seeing my cursor and everything?
Is that?

Droege, Sam   33:58
Yeah.
Yeah, you're good.

Tom Onuferko   34:00
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   34:00
So you might it when you talk about dilated, you might want to explain that a little bit more.

Tom Onuferko   34:00
And so it's actually.

Droege, Sam   34:05
What is dilated?
Is it the border is dilated or are you talking about its thickness which we can't see?

Tom Onuferko   34:12
Yeah.
So it's it's just the shape of the Excel, it's convex on the outer margin as opposed to straight or relatively straight.

Droege, Sam   34:18
OK.

Tom Onuferko   34:22
So here, if you were to draw a line straight down, you can see that it's very clearly convex.

Droege, Sam   34:28
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   34:28
Yeah.
So that's kind of what I'm yeah, that's what I meant by dilated convex is probably a better term.
Umm.
And and the inner margin of the excella is relatively straight.
The alternative?
Yeah.
In in the preceding couplet, there's a bunch of options, so the one refers to how?
How far the, the the Freeport?
How how elongated the free portion is.

Klotz, Elsa K   34:54
OK, actually had lunch before I got here, but I think where he won a little bit.

Droege, Sam   34:57
Nope, Paula.

Klotz, Elsa K   34:59
OK.

Tom Onuferko   34:59
And so, umm, the free the yeah.

Klotz, Elsa K   35:00
But thank you.

Droege, Sam   35:02
Got it.

Tom Onuferko   35:05
So I'll just read it out loud.
So is the is the free portion of the excella approximately equal to, you know, 2/5 of its entire media length or more?

Droege, Sam   35:07
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   35:15
Or is it less than that amount?
So here you have to take a ruler to the screen.
Umm.
And that's what this red line indicates here I I I.
Trueline, where it begins to diverge from the scutellum and how how long is that free portion relative to the rest of the length?
Inner length of the axilla here you can see it's much.
It's clearly shorter than 2/5.
It's probably about 1/3 the length, but again, this is where an ocular micrometer comes in handy.
If you're not entirely sure if you can't gauge, you know, just looking at it, the other feature was.

Droege, Sam   35:58
So, Tom, you, you talk about the medial length, OK. So what?

Tom Onuferko   36:02
Yeah, the inner the inner length could be another way to describe it, but yeah.

Droege, Sam   36:05
OK.
OK.
Cause medial like I would have taken the center line of the and anyway it's good that you explained it.

Tom Onuferko   36:16
Yeah, to the in this case, what I meant the the the margin that's closer to the middle because there's, you know I guess 3 margins to the XLA.
You know the outer the, but we can use those terms outer and inner if that's more intuitive.

Droege, Sam   36:25
Great.
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   36:30
So the yeah.
So that's one option if it's if it's.
If it's the free portion is longer, then you would go to four.
If it's less than that, you you potentially go to 11, but it has to be these characters and combination to go to that couplet.
Because if if you're looking at something that might be borderline, then look at whether the excella is relatively straight on the outer margin.
In this case, you know any people, Lars?
It clearly isn't it clearly convex.
Now I'm you know if that if you're still confused then you can also look at the inner margin and see if if there's a distinct hook.
So is it?
Is it distinctly concave on the on the?
Umm.
If the is the free portion distinctly concave, uh, along the inner margin here, it's relatively straight throughout, so it doesn't match the features and the first half of the couplet.
And this case we can see that it's clearly shorter than it was described in the first half and that the latter margin is distinctly convex.
So we proceed to the next one.
Maybe I'll just show you a few examples of what the alternate states look like.

Droege, Sam   37:48
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   37:49
Just so you have an idea.
So, uh, yeah, so here is an example of a species that is common in the Great Plains.
You can see that the free portion of the axilla, I think it almost is like half the length of the axilla.
You can also see that even though in this species the outer margin is convex, the inner margin is very much concave.
So it looks like a a hook.
It's not, you know, it's not completely straight throughout.
Does that make sense to you, Sam?

Droege, Sam   38:26
Yeah, totally.

Tom Onuferko   38:27
OK.
Umm, let me just see what some of the other pictures had.
So yeah, so here's an example of a species in which, umm, it the free portion of the axillary quite long, but the lateral margin is relatively straight.
It's not distinctly convex.
Maybe only slightly convex, but clearly not as it is in in it feels good, Lars.

Droege, Sam   38:55
You can see so some of the ambiguity like this is always true for all these taxonomic keys.
So I might look at that and say, well the the tip is a little bit hooked.
You know what I mean?
So, but the side is straight.
So This is why multiple multiple pathways, yeah.

Tom Onuferko   39:13
Yeah, but you know that's OK because it's supposed to be somewhat hooked.
It's it's supposed to be somewhat hooked in this species.
That's fine, it doesn't.

Droege, Sam   39:21
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   39:23
It doesn't key to the same place as scholars.
It's in the first half of the couplet.
The second half was has to be those two features in combination or three features in combination here it could be one or more of these features.

Droege, Sam   39:31
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   39:36
But the fact that this outer margin is straight that to me seems like the most obvious character that you know, rules out the second half of the couplet that, yeah.

Droege, Sam   39:41
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   39:45
So I'll, uh, I think, yeah.
So that I that one I you know, I wasn't a huge fan of this character on drafting it, but it is reliable if you get the hang of it.
But I know that if then characters can be frustrating.
I don't think I have too many of those in this key, but that is one that is unavoidable.
Umm so because we've picked this couplet, we'll skip ahead to this half the couple, it will skip ahead to 11. So that.
Yeah, it's none of these have species.
And now we'll look at the face.
Yeah.
So this ones a bit.
Yeah, it this ones a little can be a little tougher because every once in a while you might get apparent specimens.
Umm, but it refers to uh, you know whether or not the face hair interrupted medially and EPL scholars, they often are very narrowly on the 1st 2 terga but they shouldn't be at all on T3 or any of the subsequent turgo.
Umm, so the species where they're mediately interrupted, I think are almost all southeastern, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah.
So for species this is the very rare eplus Andrea that seems to be associated with kusuda, unlike in the EPL, the scalars, the sample that you can see that the target very clearly interrupted on on the OR the facia on the OR very clearly interrupted on the 1st 3 Targa and narrowed on the 4th.
But the A couplet refers just to these three and quite distinctly interrupted in the first Targum.

Droege, Sam   41:39
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   41:41
And if you recall, Sam's best.

Droege, Sam   41:41
You you can also.
Yeah, you can also see, actually Ben Hollister was one new collected it, but the you can also see on that particular slide, but you'll see this print commonly is that those white oppressed hairs often disappear, if there's even a little bit of goop on the specimen.
And so sometimes you have to really look carefully to see patterns in hair bands.
If you have a a goofy, let's call it a goopy specimen, because you can see like those marks there where they've just gone, I'm I think there are the hairs maybe removed, but I think they're also quite likely they could be simply covered with some junk they turn black.

Tom Onuferko   42:25
I think in that case it looks like they're removed because I can see the pits underneath in somebody like until two, but that is a very good point.

Droege, Sam   42:30
OK.

Tom Onuferko   42:32
So this key assumes that you're specimens are more or less than optimal condition.
Umm.
And if you have a a a specimen where in the pubescens is badly stained or rubbed off, and sometimes there's no helping it, sometimes just the specimen that you collect in the field is towards the end of its flight season.
And you know, in this case you can see the wings are a little tattered.

Droege, Sam   42:56
Yep.

Tom Onuferko   42:57
So there might simply be no work around unfortunately, but yeah, that that is a a good thing to keep in mind.
I have found that if the presence is not rubbed off but stained sometimes, researching a specimen in like 70% ethanol for a day and then and then repinning it can restore the coloration to almost you know what it was originally.
It's I've had success doing that.
They're, you know, if there's no other way that you can identify a specimen, because, like, the turgor looked black, you might wanna consider doing that and and for some reason, sometimes you might have to experiment.
Experiment.
If ethanol doesn't work, maybe just rather than soaking the entire specimen, you can take a little piece of tissue paper and and wet it with water and just put it on the metasoma.
Let it sit there, and if it's, if the tissue paper starts becoming like, you know, yellow, then you know it's starting to pull up all sorts of gunk that.
Umm from the surface and that may help restore the color and sometimes I found that you know maybe just as close to pure ethanol as possible.
We'll work where a 70% ethanol are one or doesn't, so there might be some experimentation involved, but that is an important thing to consider because as I mentioned, a lot of the identification of EPL list is based on, umm the patterns of pfsense on the Mesa Summon metasoma whereas whereas for Tripolis like the pseudo pygidial area is mentally important in coming to species level ID for EPL, I would say you know it's the auxiliary and the patterns of feedbacks.
And so those two things are really important.
And so that's something to keep in mind too when you're, you know, when you're pinning things, make sure that you're not pulling things straight out of pan traps and sticking a pin through because that can tarnish the OR state badly.
Stay in the PDA since so I'll just pull up some other picture.

Droege, Sam   45:00
Can't acetone acetone always works too?
So you said something about pitting underneath those bands.

Tom Onuferko   45:06
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   45:10
Did I catch that right?
What was that about?

Tom Onuferko   45:14
Sorry, could you repeat that?

Droege, Sam   45:16
Did you say something about there's hitting or not hitting underneath the bands?
That might give you a clue.
Where did I miss here that?

Tom Onuferko   45:24
Uh, pitting.
OK.
Like the? Yes.
So no, I don't the.
Yeah.
So actually one of them, that's true.
Actually no.
Now, now that I think of it, so the discal the disks of these targon, they're often generally covered in pubescence.
It's just a darker pubescence and it's, and it's sparser.
So if you see that there's an area that's completely devoid of PBS, since that's an indication that Picasso was wiped off.
Umm, so it's hard to see in this picture, but you can kind of see the specimen at one point was in solution cuz the hairs of you know the the tiny, the small CT have kind of clumped up and if you look along you know on the distance that metasoma you can see there's sort of like you know short lines here those are those are the hairs and here where the face it used to be you can see it's just pitted but there's nothing else so that would be an indication that the harasser wiped off does that.
Answer your question.

Droege, Sam   46:36
I think so.
I think she I, if I may interpret there too, it is pitting every useful in identification.

Tom Onuferko   46:46
Umm, there are species that have sparser pits on the meadows on it's actually electrolytes and glabrata us are two species where the pits are quite sparse and also very fine.
And then there's a species Lectus, which is closely related to those two, where the pits are very coarse and quite dense, and that feature is important.
Umm and Lectus is very similar to electrolytes, but that is the feature that essentially one of one of the main features that sets those species apart.
So yeah, there are.
There are some species for which the pits are useful character, but for most the pit density is you know it's generally you know approximately the interspaces are equal to a diamond pit diameter for for most species in the genus.
OK.
So let me just see what other, umm, species are in that.
Yeah.
So here's another species.
Uh.
Is that one I didn't open up.
Ohh here we go.
He feels therapy.
This is the species.
That's not in discover life because it wasn't described until uh, until I revise the genus was missed by Mitchell Umm and uh.
I'll probably didn't look at the eastern species, but it was unknown to science.
It's found only in peninsula uh, Florida and coastal Georgia, but here you can see like the bands are very clearly interrupted immediately.
They're even reduced, you know, and on the subsequent Targa, so the that matches the first half of this couplet.
Uh.
And then Floridensis is another one where the bands are very distinctly interrupted mediately on on on, umm the first I think 3 or 4 Turaga.
Oops sorry.
Just close those.
So we'll skip ahead to the ones where it's not, uh, whether the bands aren't interrupted immediately on those first three turbos, so they're only they're complete or only extremely narrowly interrupted.
So what are some of the species in this key?
So epiales autumn analysis and example where they're, you know, here in T3 is complete.
T2 is very narrowly interrupted.
T1 is more distinctly interrupted immediately.

Droege, Sam   49:24
So Tom, we'll talk about talk about interrupted and narrowly interrupted.

Tom Onuferko   49:25
Let's go.

Droege, Sam   49:29
So when you talk about narrowly, is there a cut off between interrupted and narrowly interrupted or is it like, you know when you see it?

Tom Onuferko   49:38
Umm yeah, there's it's.
I think the more important thing is I think what it's like on T3T3 has to be complete.
Umm, there's no, you know, it's.

Droege, Sam   49:48
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   49:52
Yeah, it's.
It's it's somewhat, I don't wanna say subjective.
There's no strict cutoff here.
The ones where it's, I would say distinctly interrupted.
It's almost like they're, you know, they're separated into some rounded lobes immediately, as opposed to just sort of tapering to an almost connecting.

Droege, Sam   50:10
Yep.

Tom Onuferko   50:14
But yeah, I think the more important uh feature in this couplet is is is what is it like on T3T3?
I'm 40. Yeah.
Sorry.
Yeah.
And it's in your in the species.
The key here?
If it's interrupted, it's almost it.
It'll be on T1 and T2, maybe very rarely on T3, but this is the more.
Yeah, I think equals out analysis might have been a bad example because that's kind of a a species where it's a little more or borderline, whereas here in the appeal of scutellaria, as you know it clearly isn't that little line here is pubescens that was scratched off.

Droege, Sam   50:47
Uh-huh.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   51:01
So that's another thing to to be mindful of.
It looks like the middle point is actually here.
Umm.
But in these bands, like here, they're touching here.
They're, you know, narrowed, complete, and this should be complete, if that makes, yeah.

Droege, Sam   51:19
Yeah, we see that in nomana all the time too, where you can tell that they might not necessarily be have a complete ban because there's a a faded area next down area or some subtlety.

Tom Onuferko   51:36
I've yeah.
I've never known how to interpret that because it looks like there's a it's a continuous band, but the middle part is just a very dark color, and so I was never sure if Mitchell referred to that as complete or interrupted.
Umm yeah, but that is a yeah, in this case the the the bands are made entirely of people like they're made of pubescence.
There's no integument.

Droege, Sam   52:01
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   52:02
Coloration doesn't play a part, and you do have to be mindful of the fact that it might be rubbed off immediately, just where you need to look at it.

Droege, Sam   52:09
In.

Tom Onuferko   52:10
So just because it's so, that's an area where you have to look and look at the pits to see if is it, uh, you know, is the area where there's no bands that entirely glabrous as an entirely smooth because I have collected appeal to Scooter Larson in the field where the middle portion was just rubbed out. Umm.

Droege, Sam   52:30
Great.
So another another point that in when you are comparing say maculation or color patterns in general and you're comparing them to pubescent patterns of pubescence patterns are much more stable within a species.
In other words, there's there is variation, but not nearly as much as like maybe talk a little bit about.
So like in schoolers, there's often a lot of red, but my impression would be that you can go right red to, uh, darker and so.

Tom Onuferko   52:54
Umm yeah.

Droege, Sam   53:03
Is there A is there?

Tom Onuferko   53:03
Yeah.
And and in males, it's often the, you know, the scutella.

Droege, Sam   53:04
Are there patterns?

Tom Onuferko   53:08
The missus total is often entirely black and much of the excelia are as well.
So it's yeah.
So it's not just even the color, but the extent to which those areas are covered by I use the jargony term ferruginous throughout the you know, throughout the paper, but I'm basically referring to like, you know, rust colored anything from orange to, you know, to brownish integument coloration different from, umm, you know, this dark brown or almost black coloration, I guess, you know.

Droege, Sam   53:26
Umm.
Umm yeah.

Tom Onuferko   53:44
Virgineus versus Pisces.
Or you can call it, you know, reddish brown versus dark blue, brown, black.
Umm but yeah even.
Umm there is variability and and even among species like among species as well.
So like in Glabrata us, it's much more of a deep blood red, almost like, you know, reminiscent to like scodes coloration.
I because that's common to a lot of Hymenoptera from Florida.
For whatever reason.
Species from Florida often have very dark red integument coloration, and here it's like a different, you know, kind of red.
Umm but yeah the I mean I have tested these characters with lot with many specimens and have tested the key with other you know.
Not experts on the genus, but other melatonin Gists to to get an idea of what works and doesn't.
So it has been fine tuned.
Umm, but there are you know there you may very well encounter aberrant specimens.
Every once in a while, you know that for what or or damaged specimens for which the key might not work so well.
But so based on the fact that you know in scudellari and in the specimen that Sam should before that the face here, you know they're not distinctly separated immediately into.
And yeah, and I haven't gone through the.
Yeah.
And in the preceding popplet.
Umm yeah, the accellion scutellum or or missus kalimera are both ferruginous.
Here are the coloration.
May be variable.
This will include species where the two are black, so that's so if we go back to autumnalis, if you weren't sure how to score this because you know these two bands or immediately interrupted in this one is narrowed, but it's touching, but you're still unsure of the fact that the Excelian scutellum are entirely black in this species tells you that it'll key out in this half of the couplets.
So look at all the characters and the couplets when making a decision.
Because sometimes it's features and combination that will determine where you where you have to go.
So in this case we'll it's not.
Umm, yeah.
We'll skip ahead to 16.

Droege, Sam   56:16
I'm actually gonna have the time check.
We have at we have time too.

Tom Onuferko   56:19
Oh wow. OK.

Droege, Sam   56:21
So this is a big time to pause and I'm taking.
I'm flat that for picking up next time.

Tom Onuferko   56:28
God has it been an hour already?

Droege, Sam   56:29
So is this a big yeah?

Tom Onuferko   56:30
OK, but.

Droege, Sam   56:32
This is a good stopping place here.
Then I feel like we've tackled some of the really core basic, you know, some of these measurement things and talk about how the patterns are are portrayed and and that so that's that's solid.

Tom Onuferko   56:35
OK.

Droege, Sam   56:48
And then we're going to get into probably more than nuance.

Tom Onuferko   56:49
Haven't even killed one species.

Droege, Sam   56:51
Yeah, we could do by bestias now.

Tom Onuferko   56:54
I'm.
Yeah, I should have done that.
One that was only two two steps or or.
I think it was two couple.

Droege, Sam   57:03
Not uncommon.

Tom Onuferko   57:03
Yeah. So.

Droege, Sam   57:04
We're doing great. Ohh.

Tom Onuferko   57:06
So do we wanna pick, like, are we gonna pick up the, you know, next week?
I don't know how you wanna.

Droege, Sam   57:16
I think I think Claire and I talked about this.
There's been different approaches, but I think you know in terms of like people tracking people, tracking from one talk to the next that literally just going through the key is really useful and and helpful for wrapping their minds around these kinds of things.

Tom Onuferko   57:34
OK.
OK.

Droege, Sam   57:39
You know there can be times where there's can be some hand waving, you know, like you have to look at this Group A little more detailed or whatever.
But I think that's what this these set of talks are about is that we get to go into the detail where and learn from you about what were you thinking about when you were seeing these different things.
How do you approach the identification and the use of these characters so that you know people can carry on when they're struggling?
They can look this back up.

Tom Onuferko   58:14
Right.

Droege, Sam   58:14
It's all archived, so this is good.

Tom Onuferko   58:16
OK.
So, yeah, I'll.
I'll leave it to you guys then to decide whether you want to maybe do a subsequent session, but just letting you know that if you did decide, yeah, I'd be OK.

Droege, Sam   58:26
Oh, we are.
We are.
Yeah, we're just assuming that, Tom, Wednesday it might be another two years.

Tom Onuferko   58:29
OK, OK.
So I am.
I am confirming my availability next Wednesday.
If you wanna do it then, but we can discuss via email, so maybe at this point it should.

Droege, Sam   58:38
Yeah. OK.

Tom Onuferko   58:42
I didn't want to have any questions in the chat. Umm.

Droege, Sam   58:45
Umm, what do you?
Ohh but if it is open for question for sure.
Yeah, it's it turns out most of the time people don't have too many questions, you know, because it's when you start getting down to some of the things that they have struggled with that they're they're going to start asking questions like pusillus versus Gutierrez or whatever.

Tom Onuferko   58:59
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   59:11
And then people are encouraged to bring those questions and to, you know, bring some pictures and things too, and then that's useful when you're struggling to look at, uh, something tricky.

Tom Onuferko   59:19
OK.
Yeah.
And Fissilis is one of the yeah, pusillus versus scholaris is one that, umm can be difficult to to tell apart. Umm.

Droege, Sam   59:31
Yeah, I've spent a bit of time.
I'm looking for that to myself, but yeah.

Tom Onuferko   59:37
The males are really easy.
That's that's the if.
If the males are, if the plural are entirely covered by palpi besins, then you know for sure it's pusillus or in that group.

Droege, Sam   59:45
Umm.

Tom Onuferko   59:49
But for eastern North America, there's only pusillus in the in the Physalis group.
Umm but yeah, just I don't think I see any questions in the chat.
OK.
Yeah.
So if there's no.

Droege, Sam   1:00:06
So I was looking around on our discover life pictures.
So you talked about INET?
Umm, definitely will advertise that some more.
There's a link in the chat, but if they want institu photos or are your photos are on discovery life.
If you search the thumbnails sometimes, but there's also others.
If you're looking for different angles.

Tom Onuferko   1:00:28
Yeah.

Droege, Sam   1:00:29
That's all.

Tom Onuferko   1:00:29
Also, uh, I'll I'll add to inat, you can see exactly who made the identifications.
If you look at the, you know, umm, if you click on an observation and so if if if you're trying to decide whether or not the idea is trustworthy, you can see if my names there.
Umm.
Then you're going by my call.

Droege, Sam   1:00:50
You could you could send you a link, yeah.

Tom Onuferko   1:00:52
So take that as you you know what?
What you make, but sometimes you know I'll.

Droege, Sam   1:00:55
Right.
I mean it.

Tom Onuferko   1:00:58
There's inaturalist often suggests I I think it suggests ideas.
When you upload things and you're not sure what it is.

Droege, Sam   1:01:04
Great.

Tom Onuferko   1:01:05
So.

Droege, Sam   1:01:05
Oh, it does.

Tom Onuferko   1:01:06
So, umm yeah.
And I think and by default it seems to suggest the most common species in the genus.
So like there's a, you know, almost every tripolis that you might image you might put up will be suggested as Tripolis Leonatus, and I think probably scholaris will be an EPO list that might be so go.

Droege, Sam   1:01:21
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko   1:01:27
Yeah, take a look at who actually did the IDs.

Droege, Sam   1:01:30
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   1:01:30
Not.
Not necessarily, just if it's needs.
I do research grade.
If it says it needs ID, but that's because I'm the only person that added an idea known that no one has corroborated it.
That would be more trustworthy than five people who, you know, don't know the genus having out of their identifications.

Droege, Sam   1:01:44
Check the box.

Tom Onuferko   1:01:48
But it is.
Yeah, I find that it's a very useful tool.
UM, you know, so if you're trying to get, I think one of the most difficult things when identifying any group is having reference material.
And EPL is one of those general that's not so commonly encountered.
So getting access to a good reference collection might be very difficult, and so that's where finding images of specimens really helps to discover life is obviously a great resource for that.
But I naturalist and to some extent bug guide are pretty useful too.

Droege, Sam   1:02:21
Yeah.
Well, thank you very much, Tom.
We appreciate your time.
We've been angling, angling to have you on here for a while, and here you are and we'll we'll set the hook and see if we can get you back next week or whatever the schedule is at permits. Several weeks.

Tom Onuferko   1:02:38
OK.

Droege, Sam   1:02:39
Claire's.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko   1:02:41
OK.
Well, thanks.

Droege, Sam   1:02:42
All right.

Tom Onuferko   1:02:42
Thanks Sam.
Thanks everyone for attending.
I I see some names that I recognize. So yeah.
Glad you're all.
Yep, you all tuned in and look forward to the next session.

Droege, Sam   1:02:54
OK.

Tom Onuferko   1:02:55
Cheers.

Droege, Sam   1:02:56
Thanks Tom.

Maffei, Clare J stopped transcription