118_Triepeolus species part 3_Tom Onuferko_May 1 2024

May 1, 2024, 5:02PM

59m 17s

Droege, Sam 0:03
Yet the, UM, umm thing?

Maffei, Clare J 0:04
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 0:07
Lined up in the screen.

Maffei, Clare J 0:08
Hats and I don't think we have any other announcements.
So for maybe this will be might be the last session.
We'll see how far you guys get.

Tom Onuferko 0:19
Yeah. That I'll.
I'll if I get through what I wanted to get through today with the, you know, with a couple species with the shortcut.
Silly key that I think that'll probably be it.

Droege, Sam 0:29
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 0:29
And of course, if anyone still wants to, has specimens they want ID, they can always send me images and ask for clarification.

Maffei, Clare J 0:29
No.

Tom Onuferko 0:37
Umm, you know, on a 11 by 1 basis so.

Maffei, Clare J 0:40
Yeah, I thought somebody brought some for today even.

Droege, Sam 0:41
I'm.

Maffei, Clare J 0:43
But here you go.
Sam's got his scope ready.

Droege, Sam 0:46
All right, that's what I got.

Tom Onuferko 0:49
Yeah, that looks like that.
Looks like Howard I umm to me, so the Excelian the similar species Andrea are a bit shorter.

Droege, Sam 0:53
OK.

Tom Onuferko 0:59
I'm here the extent pretty much to the end in this species, the extent pretty much to the end of the posterior margin of the scutellum and even further.
And you can see that the bands on the Turaga are very clearly interrupted medially.
Like, they're not even, you know, trying to touch.

Droege, Sam 1:17
Right.

Tom Onuferko 1:17
And that's what separates, you know, this species from epulis scudellari us, which is umm, you know the the the one that Co occurs with it.
And I think both are, you know, late summer autumn species.
When did you collect?
When was the specimen collected, Sam?

Droege, Sam 1:34
Let's see.
But I think you got one other specimen that you probably have up there of Howard I from us.

Tom Onuferko 1:40
Yeah.
Yes.

Droege, Sam 1:42
And this is 26 August.

Tom Onuferko 1:44
Yeah.
So that makes sense.
Umm yeah.
There's another similar species in Florida, Florida Ansis, but that tends to be a a most active in spring.
But yeah, nice specimen.

Droege, Sam 1:58
Umm.
Is it anything about the host and this seemed like it was a sandy sight in both those cases.
If I recall the other one correctly.

Tom Onuferko 2:07
I think Calidis Howard, I has been identified as the tentative host.

Droege, Sam 2:10
Yeah. Umm.

Tom Onuferko 2:11
I think that was, according to Mitchell.
Let me umm just.

Droege, Sam 2:14
Yeah, not known.
Howard, I is, I think like maybe North Carolina, which is, you know, weird things have happened, but I haven't seen anything up here.

Tom Onuferko 2:20
That's the.
And I think that's what the where the type locality is, is in and they're north or South Carolina now it's in.

Droege, Sam 2:28
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko 2:33
Yeah, the technicalities in North Carolina, and let's see what he has here.
Umm. Yeah.

Droege, Sam 2:39
To say look.

Tom Onuferko 2:39
So clear. Colitis, Howard.
I was a suspected host, according to Mitchell.
But you know, maybe it takes multiple host species, or maybe that association was incorrect and there was another what?

Droege, Sam 2:46
Yeah.
Or maybe Howard Eye is up here.

Tom Onuferko 2:54
That, yeah, like that could could also be.
Umm.
So yeah, we'll just say you'll just have to collect more.
Let us know.

Droege, Sam 3:02
Yeah.
Yeah, well, after, after we finish our compilation, there'll be a long list of targets that will try and track down.
This has in the side, so Mitchell was in North Carolina person and even though like he grew up in Southern plains and had I think a second home down there, which is right on the border with South Carolina, but he essentially never went to South Carolina like I went to South Carolina on a couple trips to really neat Sandhills place.

Tom Onuferko 3:14
Umm.

Droege, Sam 3:32
I think I got 100 new species for the state.
You know, it was just ridiculous.

Tom Onuferko 3:37
That's really bizarre to.

Droege, Sam 3:38
How depauperate it is?

Tom Onuferko 3:41
So to be so close and not and not.

Droege, Sam 3:44
Yeah, yeah.

Tom Onuferko 3:46
Cross, especially when you're advising, you know, the bees of all the eastern United States.
You think you might visit at least some of the?

Droege, Sam 3:51
Yeah.
Well, I think a lot of it.
I think you know he during his revision time he just reeled in everyone's specimens and I think he, you know, was a different era.

Tom Onuferko 4:02
Right.

Droege, Sam 4:05
So I don't know that he was even allowed to go out like state people are usually not allowed to go out at the state in terms of even like all kinds of things.

Tom Onuferko 4:12
OK.

Droege, Sam 4:15
So he had several constraints, but he also had probably a parochialism of North Carolina first or something very close. Umm.

Tom Onuferko 4:25
That's interesting.
I I didn't know that, but yeah, so that this is one of the I believe this is one of the species that he described. Umm.

Droege, Sam 4:34
Uh-huh.

Tom Onuferko 4:36
Yeah, yes.
So this is uh, this is a Mitchell species, so I'll start sharing my screen now.

Droege, Sam 4:40
Alright.
Yeah, I will never get out of here.

Tom Onuferko 4:49
OK.

Droege, Sam 4:52
Do you want that glabrata us at all or not?

Tom Onuferko 4:55
Umm, you can pull it up quickly just in case it might be zonatus, because then that would take us to another part of the key because the two are very are quite similar.

Droege, Sam 5:00
OK.
OK. Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 5:06
Umm, so yeah.
Before I, before I share my screen, if you wanna pull it up, I can confirm.

Droege, Sam 5:10
Yeah, well.
That'd be great.
And I would have thought on your visit you would have seen this one.

Tom Onuferko 5:20
Yeah, that that looks like libratus to me.

Droege, Sam 5:20
It's a pretty old, OK.

Tom Onuferko 5:22
But the sure the most the the easiest way to tell is if you look at the the plura.
If they're like sparsely punctate with very smooth interest spaces, umm.

Droege, Sam 5:33
Uh-huh.
I notice here's a really nice example of that hook.

Tom Onuferko 5:36
Yeah.
Yes.
And if you were to draw a line between the tips, you'd see that they extend past the well past the mid length of this guitar on.
I'm so yeah, that is a nice.
That is a really nice illustration of the the hook deck. Silly.

Droege, Sam 5:55
Yes.

Tom Onuferko 5:56
And in the similar species on that as they don't, they don't extend so far back posteriorly, there are still hooked, but they're like angled laterally.

Droege, Sam 5:57
Again, again.

Tom Onuferko 6:04
I'm as opposed to posteriorly and then.

Droege, Sam 6:11
I don't want to say I collected that on saw Palmetto.

Tom Onuferko 6:12
Ohh yeah.

Droege, Sam 6:15
Me.

Tom Onuferko 6:16
It's a very that it might be the most common epulis and Florida in Peninsula, Florida, yeah, the.

Droege, Sam 6:16
Pull this down.
Hmm.

Tom Onuferko 6:24
So the interspaces are quite well defined and smooth and shiny.
They're much closer together and the similar species EPL Sonata, so this is quite clearly glabrata.
US interestingly, if you're going by DNA barcodes alone, this and EPL select toys would come out as a single would.
You would conclude that there are single species, but no ones ever, you know, come to that conclusion based on morphology, because they're they're quite different.

Droege, Sam 6:49
Good.
No.

Tom Onuferko 6:56
Collaboratives has very much reduced pubescence on the on the metasoma, whereas in like toys there are distinct bands and T1 and I believe T2 are almost entirely read in Gleb Pratis as are the Excelian thesis kuttalam so you know the and of course the two species are separated by geography with libratus only found in Peninsula Florida and a thin strip of coastal Georgia and like toys occurring elsewhere in the eastern United States including the Florida Panhandle but not the peninsula for some reason.
So it's kind of, yeah, it's another example of that.

Droege, Sam 7:35
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 7:40
You know that phenomenon of of Hymenoptera with extensive red coloration?
Umm in Peninsula, Florida.
But yet those I agree with your ideas there, Sam.

Droege, Sam 7:50
OK.
Me too.
Alright, well that's yeah.
I need to get more repealers obviously.

Tom Onuferko 8:00
Yeah.
Do you?
You don't have big fasciatus, do you?
Or OK, that may be.

Droege, Sam 8:02
No, I think I do.
I think we we saw some like.

Tom Onuferko 8:05
That's a very quick one to ID, so we can just pull that up because it's very distinctive and I think it's one of the ones that if you go by inaturalist too, I'll like most of the EPL list records from the United States are epulis by fasciatus.

Droege, Sam 8:12
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 8:23
Umm. Oh, really?

Droege, Sam 8:23
Yep.
Yeah, very different.

Tom Onuferko 8:26
Yeah, it's, it's it's it's in a species group.
Umm that was that various times thought to, you know, constitute a separate genus.
Trophic cleopatria, umm.
And they're largely wasp mimics.
The the members of that group.
So this one is appears to be a humanized mimic of some sort.
He might someone not familiar with a or not overly familiar with bees might conclude this to be a umm, you know, Potter wasp of some sort.
But they're they're definitely piolas.
Umm.
They're the length of their ability is kind of is somewhat borderline that just I umm scored it as you know just meeting that threshold of extending to about that cut off of 2/3 the length of the axilla.
Although sometimes they get a bit longer.
Umm, but and so that the key out in the first half of the OR the the first third?
I guess that the key, but the very obvious diagnostic features are it's the only eplus in North America with north of Mexico, with two bands on the metasoma only a basal band on T1 and only an apical band on two.
So it kind of gives the illusion of an elongated 2 which is characteristic of various Potter Wasps.
Now in some specimens from from Florida, I think the basil Band may be missing, but umm, but the the very obvious feature that sets the species apart from all other North American species.
And I think Mexico is the presence of two well defined tubercles on the frontal area on the fronts.
So if you look at the face.
Uh.
Yeah.
And it's this is a good thing to bring up on the microscope because they're more obvious when you rotate it and move it around, then.
Not.
Not necessarily so clear images.
Yeah, that's beautiful.
So yeah, you can very clearly see.
Uh, those those two tubercles.
Uh and uh, this species is has been tentatively associated with colitis.
Later, Tarsis, which is uh uh physalis, a specialist.

Droege, Sam 10:53
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 10:56
So I've UM yeah.
I whenever I find a patch of physalis heterophylla that's the species.
It's common in my area.
I always look around for those too and I get.
Please a lot of tarsus is pretty common here in the Ottawa area and I've collected quite a few epls by fascias in places where there's there's a lot of physalus, so I think.

Droege, Sam 11:17
Yeah.
We do too.
It is heterophylla.
Is that a annual?
If I sell this or a perennial.

Tom Onuferko 11:26
Uh, I mean, I think the individual plants like here, they here, they die back.
But I don't know if they're coming back from Rio zones or from roots or or if they're just completely new plants that have seeded, but I think they're, yeah.

Droege, Sam 11:36
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko 11:45
I know that you know the exposed leaves and flowers and fruits all all die back, but then come back from the same spot year after year and they often send I think really long runners so they'll pop.

Droege, Sam 11:51
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
OK.

Tom Onuferko 11:57
So even if you've got a small patch in your garden, they'll show up in a completely different area, but I think, yeah, header header ofella is the species we have here, and I think is it longifolia might be the one that's more common where you are.

Droege, Sam 11:57
OK.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 12:12
Umm, but.

Droege, Sam 12:12
Yeah.
And that's what we have.
And I tried to grow it, but it was an annual one, like cut.
I forget the scientific name.
I could have been header off a lot because I'd read about it, but it's an annual and was like cut leaf.
Umm for sound cutleaf ground cherry and it didn't seem to have any Khalidi lataris on it.
And tomatillo, I've heard conflicting things.

Tom Onuferko 12:34
Huh.
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 12:39
So I grew tomatillo right next to the others and there was nothing on the tomatillo and tons on the longifolia.

Tom Onuferko 12:44
Hmm.

Droege, Sam 12:45
So it might be a preference then nearby someone else is growing tomatillo and had had them on it.
So I don't know.

Tom Onuferko 12:52
Yeah, lot.
Laurence Packer grows tomatillos in his garden and he's had colitis.
Later, Tarsis go to them and the other a, umm, species of colitis that we find that you that I get sometimes on on physalis will astonii uh.

Droege, Sam 12:59
Hmm.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 13:11
And I think that one might be the host of Epulis interruptus, but I've I've gotten Williston.
I here I haven't gotten the the EPO list yet.
Umm but yeah, then the the clammy ground.

Droege, Sam 13:21
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 13:26
Cherry colitis had aerophila also get perdida.
Uh helicoids. There's.

Droege, Sam 13:30
Nobody angling ohh helictites I I said Nova angle.

Tom Onuferko 13:31
Yeah, that would beg your pardon.
Yeah, there's a predator that goes to them.

Droege, Sam 13:35
Yeah, yeah.

Tom Onuferko 13:37
Yeah, but it's a good.
Yeah, it's a good.
It's a nice example of a, you know, a floral specialization and an EPL is that is kind of even though umm epulis themselves as adults, they'll go to various different flowers for nectar and and a lot of times you'll find these on asters.

Droege, Sam 13:45
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 13:58
There's still confined to the same, at least at least as larvae, confined to the same diet as their hosts are.

Droege, Sam 14:06
Right.

Tom Onuferko 14:06
And so these in a sense, are also specialized on physalis.
But that's.
I just wanted to bring this up as an example because it's a very commonly, umm, observed epulis species.
And it's quite different, you know, in overall appearance from others.
So there are once you get into Mexico and Central America, there are a lot of species that look like it and this ones some this one can be very hard to distinguish from another species.

Droege, Sam 14:30
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 14:33
EPL is obscure apps, but I have not seen that one in the US yet.
So as far as I know, there's only one epulis in this trophic lecture group that's found in the US, and that's by fasciatus.

Droege, Sam 14:45
Yeah, I'll point out that physalis makes a wonderful garden plant.
People think of it as weedy, but you put in a big planter and the longifolia that I have here makes a just a wonderful mound.
It blooms for a really long time and it's just circled by later Tarsis all the time.
It's just real fun.

Tom Onuferko 15:03
Umm and heterophylla the the fruits are edible and they're actually quite tasty, so I don't know about.

Droege, Sam 15:08
Yeah, I think most of them are edible.
Yeah, but they're small and and longifolia.

Tom Onuferko 15:12
Yeah.
Umm, yeah, they're they're big, but they're very sticky and or larger, but they're very sticky and at are awful.
But yeah, it's a it's a.
It's an example of a of, you know, an underappreciated pollinator that pollinate something that actually we consume.
And I think like other Solanaceae, these plants have to be sonicated.
But before I go off on too much of a tangent, I'll yeah, if you can, I'll I'll take over and start sharing my screen.

Droege, Sam 15:35
Umm yeah.
Yeah, right. OK.
Yeah.
Take over.

Tom Onuferko 15:44
Soon.
OK, so is my screen visible now?

Droege, Sam 15:55
Yep.

Tom Onuferko 15:56
OK.
So.
Yeah. What?
I thought I'd will key out today.
We can start with on switch, since we're in the East, let's do epulis canadensis, because that's a it's fairly widespread.
It's, UM, it's one of the more commonly collected species with short Xillia, although it's not as common as species like by fasciatus and scholars, but I think it's a good candidate.
So let's start with the couplet describing the length of the auxiliary.
Umm.
Let's see if I can pull up.
Remember which one of these might be Canada ansis.
Yeah.
Oh, that's pretty good.
OK, so the the character is excel in the dorsal view with the tip extending to less than 2/3 the length of the missus kuttalam.
So this is what it looks like in Canada and says you can see that it, you know, they get to about the halfway point, but definitely not past, not to the 2/3 point or past.
So this is what I would consider short exactly.
And if you're not, umm, you know, if you're new to this character, it would be good to measure directly using a calibrated, uh, micrometer.
Within the I piece, until you sort of get the hang of it because you know an unexperienced person might say, ohh please look kind of large to me, but what I refer to as you know how far back the extent posteriorly.
So in this case, clearly we take we go to jump ahead to 21 couple of 21, yeah, this might be sort of hard to see in images of live specimens, especially when they're shown at different angles, but.
Umm, it helps when you know can help when people upload different pictures of specimens.
Also a good thing to do on 9 naturalists, it really helps expert identify things.
If you post more than just a single image, because sometimes the critical shot, umm, you know will be missed.

Droege, Sam 18:02
Hmm.

Tom Onuferko 18:03
But yeah, in this case you can still kind of get see the the Axelia relatively short.
So Scroll down to 21 doesn't look like the actual couplets are hyperlinked.
OK, so this one's pretty easy.
UM.
And does that.
Does the vertex have two pairs of shiny and punctate protrusions?
There's only two species in North America that have this.
Wait.
Sorry, pulled up the wrong image.
So this is not the same.
These are not the same protrusions found on the fronts of EPL by fasciatus.
Instead, here I'm referring to four protrusions found on the vertex, and there's only two species in North America that exhibit this feature.
And you, you'll only find them between Arizona and Texas.
So uh yeah.
I'm not sure if I have a very clear shot of the head of EPL's canadensis.
I'm not here and it's probably a little hard to see. Whoops.
Ohh yeah, you can kind of see there's not.
Yeah.
So in this shot of the head, the image is a bit blurry, but I don't see any well defined protrusions here, so that eliminates those two species.

Droege, Sam 19:29
You know.

Tom Onuferko 19:31
Umm, what?

Droege, Sam 19:32
And usually you don't.
There's not even really hints either.

Tom Onuferko 19:36
No, and sometimes there are some species that have.

Droege, Sam 19:37
Would you say?

Tom Onuferko 19:42
Where?
Where in there are there is kind of a bump here on the side but but there never and so they have these you know could be interpreted as lateral protrusions, but they're usually not shiny and punctate like this usually not as well pronounced and they're missing umm the ones by the aselli.

Droege, Sam 20:04
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 20:04
So there's only a sometimes a single pair, and they're usually not not so well defined.
So that is the other.
Umm yeah, let me see if I let me just reread this couplet and thorough.
So head with vertex salary with two pairs of shiny, usually in punctate protrusions.
OK, I had.
It was without protrusions, but umm yeah, there may be species where you have a little bit of a bump to the side that may be interpreted as a protrusion, although I think maybe they come out or if they would be in this part of the key then then in later parts, which is probably why I just said for a text without protrusions.

Droege, Sam 20:31
You can.

Tom Onuferko 20:43
But in any case equals canadensis doesn't have you know any.
So or not even a hint as as Sam mentioned, I'm and what was the other feature OK and the two phase deal with two pairs of anterolateral extensions?
So what I mean by that is we talked about there being.
You know a lobe like extension on each side and each species.
Well, these ones actually have two of them.
Umm.
So yeah, sometimes it's not so well, uh developed.
But instead of a single pair, you'll have two pairs.
Let me see if they're, I don't know if they're more visible and Damaris.
Yeah.
And this one that you can see that there's two pairs.
So and canadensis is 1, is a species that doesn't have any, uh, low back extensions on each side.
So here you can see there's just a a facia on T2 and you can look at it at different angles.
And you can see there's no.
There are no black extensions.
So clearly we're not dealing with these two species.
Cammy Surance serration died damatis, so we'll skip to couple at 23.
I'm so this here is where you have some species that have that hooked.
Like have those hooked like silly, but they're angled laterally.
So canadensis is not one of those species, but I'll show you an example of a species that does have acceler.
They're kind of like hooked laterally.
So this is epulis.
Oranus, umm.
The axillary don't extend.
Clearly you know to 2/3 of length of the means to tell them further, but you know they're clearly there's clearly a hook.
It's not like a straight line from the tip of the OR from the base of the ability to the tip.
And I'll see if I can find you.

Droege, Sam 23:04
And I'll point out that the the left axillary looks in that picture really straight.

Tom Onuferko 23:13
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's kind of you have to kind of see the line where follow the line cause yeah, it's I'm not sure if that's maybe the angle or some sometimes you get specimens in which one side doesn't quite look like the other and that's when it helps to see more representatives.

Droege, Sam 23:16
And I think it's just, it's just, yeah.
Right.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 23:33
Umm, but yeah, I mean it's it's kinda it's subtle because there's like a little bit of a dip but in this.

Droege, Sam 23:35
This way this is just pointing out the trickiness.
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko 23:41
Yeah, you're right in this in on the left side, it's not as clearly pronounced as it is on this one.

Droege, Sam 23:47
And like you pointed out before, it's just the angling the specimen, a lot can be very clarifying.

Tom Onuferko 23:48
But let's take a look at.

Droege, Sam 23:55
So you probably do this, but some people, particularly when they start out, they tend to stick it in a piece of clay like we do for photography and then look at it and then make a decision.

Tom Onuferko 24:02
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 24:06
But you really wanna be using your fingers and using your hands as a platform.
We've talked about this in the in the here so that you can use the light to angle and show suture lines.

Tom Onuferko 24:11
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 24:19
The particularly in these dark areas.

Tom Onuferko 24:21
Yeah.
And let me also see if I could pull up a picture of a specimen where it's a little more obvious.
Umm, it should be this one I think, yeah.
Zonatus I think is one.
Yeah, here's here's another.

Droege, Sam 24:37
Umm, alright, OK.

Tom Onuferko 24:37
Yeah, you can.
Yeah, so here you can see.
Umm yeah that it doesn't extend past 2/3 of length of the misses Catalan and it's sort of like it's it's it's.
I feel like it's angled laterally like it.
It's forms almost enough too angle, kind of, but then you have this little hook.

Droege, Sam 24:54
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko 24:58
Umm and I wanna see if I can find whereas my image of close some of these we don't need them anymore.
It's fun, canadensis.
So this is what the.
What the excella look like and and uh EPL is canadensis.
I think there's something.
There's also, it's not just that they're hooked, but also the length of the free portion.
So in those where it's hooked, it has to be.

Droege, Sam 25:25
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 25:28
It's the free portion is about 2/5 of the media length, if not longer, and.
That's where you look at the straight red line.
That I drew through and here you can see it's clearly this free portion.
It's quite tiny.
It's definitely not, you know, if it was two fifth, the length, it would be somewhere here that it would start to diverge from the side of the scutellum.
And you don't see that.
So even if the hook thing throws you off, just the fact that these tips are so short should make it clear that that's this part of the key doesn't describe it.
If your or this part of the couplet doesn't describe it, the other thing is, uh, the this.
If you're, if you have a female, I'm all these species with the accela that are hooked.
Literally, they also have a very distinctly bell shaped or campanulate pseudo pygidial area.
So where if you were to draw a line and continue?
You know, along the edge of it you would see that it's quite clearly bell shaped as opposed to something like this or this where it's more umm, you know, forms more of a lull.
Uh, so let's see if I have a.
OK. This.
Yeah, and this is a male.
So that feature doesn't work here.
Umm, but that's another one that you'd pay attention to if you were keeping a female.
Uh, so yeah, we'll point.
The first half of this couplet clearly doesn't describe canadensis, so we'll skip ahead to a couple at 29.
OK.
So.
Now there are U M4 North American species in this group that have a very distinctive.
Patch of small patch of tomentum anteriorly on the scutum and so I am.
I'm separating those species from the rest here.
And so here I describe it as an intermedial patch of bright or pale yellow tomentum.
It's either Chevron shaped horseshoe shape or V shaped.
I'm although sometimes it's semicircular now.
Unfortunately, in this specimen.
Umm, but tomentum anteriorly on the scooter is rubbed off.
But I'll show you what it's supposed to look like. Umm.
Yeah, these these pictures aren't all that clear.
I'll try with another.
A better example.
That one.
Yeah.
So instead of these well defined lines of Pell Tomentum parallel lines running along the side of the scutum, you have these like really short little umm patches that are touching.
Yeah, that picture looked that is I I thought that might be a clearer image, but.
Uh, I have to go back to the dance for us.

Droege, Sam 28:49
So they're all they're all kind of restricted to that medial area and the lateral extent is, you know, like maybe not even half the width of the skew them.

Tom Onuferko 29:00
Eat.

Droege, Sam 29:02
Is that all parking?

Tom Onuferko 29:02
Yeah, it's very it's very small and that's an important point because I'm oops, let me go.
Yeah, I'll pull up some other species in that group as well.
Let's go to compactus.

Droege, Sam 29:24
And also you're showing you're showing a lot of, umm tribulus which have stuff going on there in that same area, but maybe always a different shape.
You know they have the two lines up usually.

Tom Onuferko 29:37
Yeah, I've never seen a tripel list with this pattern of pubescence, but when you get into South America, there's a whole bunch of during Yella that that have a similar sort of small patch.

Droege, Sam 29:42
Mm-hmm.

Tom Onuferko 29:48
But here you can see it's kind of like a Chevron shaped.
It doesn't get any bigger.
No, it doesn't look like it, but here you have this sort of like, yeah.
Yeah, Chevron shape.
Now, there are some species.
Now let me just I'll read the couplet first and throw just so.
So yeah, the meat is good in with an entry media patch of bitter pellets, mentum, usually Chevron, Porsche or V shaped.

Droege, Sam 30:08
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 30:14
Umm.
If it's V shaped, then it's narrowed uh anterolaterally, so it gets what I mean by that is see these parts get kind of thinner to a point.
Sometimes the patch just like will occupy the whole thing, but if they are like at all separated, then they're then they'd be narrowed to this point.
And why that's important is because there is another species.
Umm epulis minimus that for some reason in California you get specimens.
Umm where the?
Umm paramedian bands are joined Posteriorly.
Let me see where if I have.
Ohh should have just put EPO plus.
There it is.
So this species is epiales minimus.
Umm, because.

Droege, Sam 31:12
Hmm.

Tom Onuferko 31:14
But this is a, you know, an unusual sort of geographic variant where.
The the bands are somewhat joined Posteriorly.
I think it's to an extent because there's so much so very much thickened.
So when you do get this and you're not sure if it's in this species group, umm, that that equals to which equals canadensis belongs, or a different one.
You can see that, uh, these bands are not at all like narrowed anteriorly.
They don't come to a point, whereas in in the other ones Cpl is compact US for example, they are.
So I'll pull.
Yeah, I'll, I'll. I'll.
I'll bring up pictures from the key which show it somewhat more clearly, so this is umm, you know the situation in EPL's canadensis.
You can see that the bands are V shaped and they kind of come to a point here.
Umm.
And if they are, you know, very much thickened.
Let's see.
You know, then there's no.
Yeah.
So in this in, here's an example of the species where it's just like 1 continuous patch, but if they are thickened, then there's no sort of like, there's no gap here, it's just a big spot.
So this is a an instance where you have to really carefully read the couplet.
The only exception?
You know the only the only species that you might misidentify, you know, as as belonging to this group as epulis minimus.
In all, I'm in all the other ones that kid out on that key out later.
There's a pair of well defined paramedian bands, and I'll show you what that looks like.
So let's see.
I have to find a good example where the.
UM with the pin isn't blocking them.
Yeah, so here's an example of, you know, two clearly separated well defined bands in EPL is.
This is Brumley I.
Let's see if there's any another another example of a species with two, while defined separate bands.
So Sam, does that make sense?

Droege, Sam 33:45
Yep.

Tom Onuferko 33:45
Is there anything that I should clarify about that couplet?
Cause it can be a little tricky.

Droege, Sam 33:52
No, I think this is the value of having you here talking it through.
Because that's a pretty unique feature like.
It's not like you see and blah blah blah.

Tom Onuferko 34:01
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 34:03
It's like you have to really define it, so it's good.

Tom Onuferko 34:06
Yeah.
And I'll show.
I'll see if it's visible in this one too.
You pull this splendid as this.
Is this exclusively southwestern species?
Yeah, so here's a another example where it's just then this one.
It seems to just form like a a dense patch, but clearly there's not.
There aren't two separate pans, and they're not parallel to one another, so based on, yeah.
So unfortunately, with our candidates specimen.
UM, yeah, it identified as such based on other features, because the pfsense is clearly rubbed off in this one.
Umm, but I know that that's the state that it's supposed to be.
So based on that, I'm jumping to couplet 30.

Droege, Sam 34:47
Great.

Tom Onuferko 34:52
Uh, so a couple of 30 separates a very distinctive EPO list from the rest of the members of that group.
UM EPO is splendid.
Us let me see. Let.
Let's let's pull up the like.
There's nothing else that looks anything remotely like this, you know?
Not, not just in North America, but but throughout the range of this, this species and into sun, Mexico and Central America.
It's a very distinctive VPL list because it's got these really bright yellow bands of of tomentum other visa, scutum, and and Madison will turaga and it doesn't have a well defined dark area on T1 as in uh as in EP allows canadensis.

Droege, Sam 35:32
2.

Tom Onuferko 35:40
See, there's like a really clear triangular area here that's missing and the species.
And so just based on the pubescence, you can clearly tell that this is not like the others, but another interesting feature about this particular EPO list is that the proposed team is like very smooth and and essentially.
So I thought the latter.
Umm, the outside of the metapost.
November the proposal triangle.
The podium is like very smooth and essentially in punctate, whereas in the other three species in this species group it's you can see there's like distinctive micro sculpture that.
Umm.
Dulls the integument.
And there's, you know, it's quite clearly punctate and not and not glabrous.
So clearly our specimen isn't EPL Splendidus which?

Droege, Sam 36:38
Libby, let me just bring up one little thing.
So in Malley's Key had the same place where you have yellow and you have white bands in tribulus banding on the you know on the tergites.

Tom Onuferko 36:54
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 36:54
But I remember when first going through her key that I'm looking for yellow and the like, my mind's has yellow as a picture and I'm like, that's not yellow.
That's dirty off white.

Tom Onuferko 37:06
It's very subtle.
Yeah, unless you have like, unless you have like Tripolis.

Droege, Sam 37:08
So I think, yeah, I know if you're clarifying that, but it it took me a while to really get the difference and still sometimes I'm like, yeah, I'm not 100%.

Tom Onuferko 37:17
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 37:21
So I've just a a word that it throws people off who are insiders.

Tom Onuferko 37:22
And in this case, yeah.
Yeah.
And that's why having, that's why having pictures is so important.
Because the difference here is it's either pale yellow, which is what I say this is, or like bright yellow, umm or deep yellow however you want, you know you might wanna call it, but having pictures helps.

Droege, Sam 37:31
Umm.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 37:45
And yeah, in in Tripolis yellow is very different.
It's like a beige with warm undertones.
It's yellow versus like Gray or like, you know, something that is has, it's like almost like warm versus cool undertones is kind of like.

Droege, Sam 37:53
And yeah.
Right the the but the the useful thing is the contrast between right on a, B like you can see the air quote yellow parts on tree bliss by comparing it to the other parts of the tomentum on the rest of the body that are clearly bright white.

Tom Onuferko 38:19
Mm-hmm.

Droege, Sam 38:20
And that helps clarify things, because again, when you're starting out, you don't have a lot of examples and things like that.
So you can see that in even in the splendens even your bright yellow is not necessarily people's definition of bright yellow in the tribulus eplus EP Illini world, that's bright yellow, but not necessarily in the artistic world.

Tom Onuferko 38:29
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And another important thing to remember is that if UM, like if you're looking at museum specimens, these college could be very faded.
And so I have encountered some, you know, yet state of the state of specimens is very important to consider when you're looking at coloration.
And that and because it can mess things up.
Even looking at integument coloration, I've noticed that really old specimens that have been prolonged light, they tend to develop sort of a reddish and tegument coloration, and specimens that were brightly colored when they were caught.

Droege, Sam 39:17
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 39:23
If they were exposed to light for any period of time, those colors may fade quite well.
Where this difference doesn't become so clear so.
It's a good thing to remember when when using these keys that we're assuming that the specimens are in the, you know, in the state that they should be, which is, you know that there aren't, that they haven't been degraded and any sort of way and that there's sort of like collected in the prime of their lives because you can also collect things in the field that you know.

Droege, Sam 39:41
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 39:55
Umm yeah.
The toward the end of their uh toward the end of the specimens, toward the end of their lives, were much of the persons might have come off and become faded just because, you know, wear and tear. Umm.

Droege, Sam 40:06
Mm-hmm.
Right.
They're more like guidelines, as they say in the movies.

Tom Onuferko 40:11
Yeah.
Yeah, I I mean I'm.
I'm yeah.
This is like, you know, if you collected this species that has just disclosed and you know our specimen that is just, you know, emerged and is in good condition.
This is what it should look like.
So and sometimes you know that those are the best characters we have to go on or the only carrier characters that we might be able to go on.

Droege, Sam 40:30
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 40:35
And so another instance where it helps to have.

Droege, Sam 40:35
Yeah, and there's no.

Tom Onuferko 40:39
Yeah, the bigger pardon.

Droege, Sam 40:39
Umm, there's no shame in sending it off to Tom or sending a picture or just calling it spa.

Tom Onuferko 40:43
Yeah.

Droege, Sam 40:47
Or if you can, you know, narrow it down to a group.
You can say that too.

Tom Onuferko 40:51
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people I've noticed in the literature when people do bee surveys, EPL is so rarely collected that for the purpose of statistical analysis, a lot of people just seem to say I'm not gonna bother with this key and just we only have a single specimen.

Droege, Sam 41:03
Well, that's yeah.

Tom Onuferko 41:06
I'm just calling it spa.

Droege, Sam 41:08
Great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tom Onuferko 41:09
But but like I said, I'm happy.
Died.
You know.
Umm.
Identify anything from images.
So if you do want to get a name on your specimens, and there's even, you know, even if it's just one collected and AB survey, I'm happy to happy to help.
So going back to the key, we'll we know that it's not EPL splendidus.
Yeah, the specimen clear looks very different.
So this is, yeah.
So we'll start here.
So the discal patch that's if you remember this black area on T1.
That's kind of surrounded, at least on on, you know, on some, if not all, sides by bands of pelto mentum the disco patch.
It's quite clearly triangular, something circular.
And UM, the the sides are essentially.
You know I straits or they're slightly convex.
And if the and that means that the discal patch takes on either a triangular or semi circular shape, I've noticed that an EPO list.
Canadensis.
It tends to be more triangular and males and more clearly semicircular and females.
But there is overlap, so that's why that character isn't described in the key.
Umm, but you can see it quite clearly in.
And the holotype of epls counter densus what a semi circular disco patch looks like.
So like you know, it's.
In in, in many species of EPL list there are four distinct bands of of tomentum on on the T1 there's an apical band, a basal band, and then longitudinal bands connecting them.
In this species, the launch the lateral longitudinal bands are essentially continuous with the basal bands, so you don't really know where one ends and the other begins.
And that's a very important thing when keying this species, because in a very similar one EPL is compact.
Us umm.
Which?
Uh, let's see.
I had it up, but maybe I'll have to find it again.
Well, I'll have to search for it.
Yellow spring up a because there's different examples.
And yeah, this is a good one.
So umm and the similar species EPL compact us you have, you know, an Apple Band, a basal band and then you have, you know, a distinct kind of angle that's or band that separates them.
It might be very short.
Umm, but that's what separates that species from from this one.
Now every once in a while you'll find compacted specimens with the bands are so thickened that they kind of almost eliminate that or or hide that longitudinal band that separates them.
But in that in those cases you get more of like a diamond shaped umm disco patch.
Not really. Uh.
But not really a distinctly triangular semicircle.
One, this one's kind of a bat.
Yeah.
So this is a difficult specimen because you might think that this is I'm compact us, but that's kind of partially because the to mention here is faded.
Umm, anteriorly.
And so this should really.
You know, go like this, but it's and the angle too makes it look a little more triangular, but this is actually what I would refer to as a diamond shaped disco patch.
If you're not sure, you can look at the length of if of the disco patch relative to the width, so.
Yeah.
So the media launch 2IN in Canada, access the media launch Kunal extent is is more than 1/3 of the lateral extents.
So if you were to measure this and this, umm, you can see that this is clearly, you know, more than 1/3 of this length.
Here.
Yeah, it gets a bit.
Looks more like a.
Maybe 1/4?
But there are specimens of compactus that are that can be difficult to tell apart because they have this sort of like because the bands are thickened laterally and they have kind of almost a, you know, a diamond shaped verging on triangular.
Discal patch.
But if you're not sure you know if you're collecting in the East, I'm there is only EPL's Canada, insists EPL's Compactus as an exclusively western species.
The two the ranges of the two do overlap to some extent in the western United States, but in the eastern United States and in Eastern Canada there is only Epulis Canada and says, and the two you know, even though they they're quite similar, they do barcode as distinct.
And the more the morphological differences do hold up.
Umm, you know, with our our our our supported by barcodes and they also seem to parasitize closely related collides umm I think yeah, EPL canadensis has been associated with colitis, Kincade I and collides you'll API and I think compactus umm maybe only worth uh maybe only with unify but I'd have to double.
Yeah, I'd have to double check that.
But they do seem to go after similar, if not the same collides.
So I just want to see if I could pull up some more pictures of compactus just to show you that the variation in the shape of the disco patch, because it can be quite different in that lot.
Lateral longitudinal band doesn't always as well defined, so here's an A better example of what I would call like a diamond shaped discal patch.
So it's not like, umm, yeah, it's not as clearly triangular as it is in in canadensis or semicircular.
This is a yeah.
This can be a tough character and you really have to see Syria.
I think you know it really helps to see series of specimens.
More so because EPL's compact, this is so variable.
Umm.
Or as an EPL's candidates, as you know, they're it's the disco.
Patch is always.
You know this clearly either semi circular, triangular and so yeah, based on that feature alone that I separate you know our our specimen here from the other is is as canadensis and it's also an A part of the.
Yeah, US, where I would only find equals Canada and says the range of compactus.
I think the the Western most records are in are in the eastern.
Most records are in Texas, and then they they're found all the way to California and and British Columbia.
So yeah, I'm not sure what else.
Yeah, with less than 10 minutes left.
What other equalism have time to sort of, you know, to illustrate that was my going to be my example for today.
Umm, maybe we'll leave it to questions if anyone has questions.

Droege, Sam 49:05
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 49:08
Sam, is there anything that I could better describe or?

Droege, Sam 49:12
No, I think we've, we've broached all the main, you know identification, morphological features and have covered some of the trickier ones.
And had I mean, they're all good discussions, so that's great.
I don't know if anyone.
I think Claire mentioned that people could bring in some pictures.
Does anyone have any pictures they want to share and Tom will lay hands on them and divine their divine the truth?

Tom Onuferko 49:42
Yeah.
Let me uh, let me stop sharing this on my screen.

Maffei, Clare J 49:42
This.

Tom Onuferko 49:44
Just in case.

Maffei, Clare J 49:46
Anybody can pop in and there's no questions in the chat right now, but good spot too.

Droege, Sam 49:46
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 49:46
Sorry or chat.

Droege, Sam 49:50
Yeah.
And then I ask your own questions, yeah.

Tom Onuferko 49:55
OK.
Well.

Droege, Sam 49:59
It it does, it does tend to not not to be a chatty group.

Tom Onuferko 50:03
OK.

Droege, Sam 50:03
I think they're, you know, taking notes.
And they're, you know, they're absorbing these kinds of things, but they're mostly looking to us to, you know, talk through things so.

Tom Onuferko 50:15
Yeah.
Yeah.

Maffei, Clare J 50:17
Very news classroom.

Droege, Sam 50:17
Not sure.

Tom Onuferko 50:17
So I think.
Yeah.
So maybe I'll just just a few concluding points then about the key.
Like I said, you know it is based on the assumption that the specimens you have in prime condition, but there are useful ways that you can, if you're not sure, read about the host records, the floral records.
Look at the geographic known geographic distribution.
Umm, just distributions because you know, it was a.
It's a fairly thorough revision.
I'm not saying that, you know, there aren't gaps that you know there are no unfilled gaps because there definitely are things that will learn, especially for the rarer species like PPLS Andrei, which I mentioned in a previous week.
But for some of the more well known ones, you can be quite confident that the ones that you can you can look at the material list of material examines and you know, make a judgment call.
And we're like, OK, he's seemed like 50 specimens of that species, and they're all from this area.
Chances are what I have isn't that just based on, Umm, where the specimens were collected?
So, umm yeah, I just it.
I would use as many you know tools available to you know, to try to build confidence and and ID's.
But where a lot of knowledge gaps remain are in host records.
There's so much research that can be done for host parasite associations.
One of I think one of the more interesting papers that I put out in recent years was confirming a host parasite association by actually barcoding larvae that were taken from collides nest nest of qualities on source music.
Scopus there were lots of equals americanas in that area so that you know and there were observed entering nests.
But you know, we didn't see specimens directly over positing.
Umm, but you know you can take a strongly suspected you know association and confirm it by doing things like recovering larvae from from nests and barcoding them.
So in this case, you know worked out and confirmed suspicions and got a small paper out of it.
But yeah, those.
And if you ever, if you do happen to come up across an aggregation, those are rare and they're like real gems.
So take advantage of the fact.
Call me if you find one or email me cuz yeah, there's there's lots of common species for which we still, you know, don't know for sure what the hosts are.
We may have strong suspicions, but like qualities lot of Tarsus and epls by fasciatus that that association is based entirely on collections of the two and Co occurrence with one another.
There hasn't been a single case of a larva VPL by fasciatus recovered from a host Nast or a video of a female of a positing.
So that's where a lot of the knowledge gaps remain.

Droege, Sam 53:18
Umm.

Tom Onuferko 53:20
Are in ecology, there are still some unresolved taxonomic issues or things that I'd like to better resolve within EPL list, but that's more you know in the perhaps northern Mexico.

Droege, Sam 53:21
Yeah.

Tom Onuferko 53:33
Southwestern US there's that equals psilos group that, that, that I'd like to be able to barcode more specimens to see if the morphological features identified hold up.
Umm, you know with with more molecular data, but the gaps are really in in ecology and this is a great group to, you know to to be able to, to, to look at host parasite associations because we all we know that there's only a single host genus with other general like Tripolis or nomada it could be very difficult to identify the host because you're not even sure if you're looking at you know necessarily the right genus.
But in this case, would BPO list there haven't been any confirmed uses of other other host genera.

Droege, Sam 54:21
So Tom, do you have anything that could be called tips when you're out in the field to find and look for epulis?
Obviously on flowers, people are just gonna collect them, but what about nest searching behavior?
Is that a thing?
It all.
Do you see them?
Do people find them?
Is there a characteristic of that?

Maffei, Clare J 54:41
Also photography.

Tom Onuferko 54:44
Yeah.
So sorry.

Maffei, Clare J 54:45
How in the field photography.

Tom Onuferko 54:47
What was that, Claire?

Maffei, Clare J 54:48
And also in that in that theme how in the field the to do the photography?

Tom Onuferko 54:55
Oh, to deal with.
Yeah, I'm well.
So I find that I mean males, actually both sexes, you can get on flowers.
I kind of looked for the hosts first.
I look for evidence of colitis, but sometimes you might get a specimen with no colitis around that like an EPL with localities around that sometimes happens, but they tend to be a lot more abundant when there's lots of collides.
Umm so you can get both at flowers sometimes the the the phonologies are a little out of sync like for whatever reason I find that males off mail epls often emerge.
You know, a few weeks before the females start to make an appearance, that seems to be common in various groups of bees.
Umm.
And it's the females that you may find sort of hovering closer to the ground, looking for Nessa entrances.
You know in in areas where there might not be flowers, but I always I always scan kind of the ground when I look for things.
They areas was somewhat sandy soils tend to be, you know favored, but you can find, you know, umm, you can find them in places with dense vegetation as well.
But I I like to look for them, you know, in areas where there's lots of sand Rd banks, riverbanks.
And if you know, I mean if, if if you if you know that you're the collides is an Allie, you can look for the plants too.
Like I look for physalis patches or solidago euthamia is used by all sorts of collides and seems to be favored.

Droege, Sam 56:26
Great.

Tom Onuferko 56:34
Various asters, umm.
And yeah, I'd in terms of, yeah, I I don't spend so much time imaging things in the in the, in the field.
And I find that epls are often aren't very cooperative.
They might say it a flower for a split second and take off, but sometimes for whatever reason, they just pose for you.
Umm, but it's much harder to it, you know, image them when they're flying around close to the ground.
In that case, unless they're, they've stopped somewhere and are crawling around looking for nest entrances, it's hard to get a good image of them.
Yeah, I also.
So.

Maffei, Clare J 57:14
That's an interns playing around with, like, getting them in Nets or getting just in general.
The bees and Nets, putting them in a chiller in the field for just a little bit and then so you can like look at them.

Tom Onuferko 57:25
Yep.

Maffei, Clare J 57:26
So we'll tell you how that works out.

Tom Onuferko 57:28
Yeah, they they can cool down and survive quite lot like EPL's.
Autumnalis will live in the fridge for many days, for example.
So they can be chilled for, you know, a good period of time.
And then released or done, you know, or preserved permanently after, umm.
Ohh another thing I do when I look for them.
I've I've I've become a cheater in recent years and I use inaturalist a lot.
When I looked for potentially productive sites some and I found like as an example, uh, there's this one site in Ontario where like a whole bunch of people have posted pictures of Hulk capacities, which isn't all that common here.
But like repeated observations, descriptions and said oh, I could use a few in my reference collections.
So I went over and sure enough.

Maffei, Clare J 58:17
That's not cheating.
Do you think the resources?

Droege, Sam 58:22
Umm I do that with plants a lot, yeah.

Tom Onuferko 58:23
That's yeah.
Yeah.
So that's another thing to.
Yeah, I naturalist is great for is it might it if you're looking for a physical specimens of things you can learn of some potentially good sites.
I don't think you know Epls isn't enough of a coveted tax sun by collectors that that would risk extirpating populations like it would for, you know, butterflies and things like that.
But you know, for now I I feel like it's OK to to do that.

Maffei, Clare J 58:56
We'll start obscuring the GPS when it's a little more extreme.
I'm gonna wrap up the recording at this point, but two people have jumped into the chat, so I'm sorry for the people who are listening to this later, but you will not hear that part of the conversation, OK?

Tom Onuferko 59:05
Umm.
OK.

Maffei, Clare J stopped transcription