Oligochlora
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Oligochlora Temporal range: Burdigalian |
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| Oligochlora semirugosa holotype | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Apocrita |
| Superfamily: | Apoidea |
| Family: | Halictidae |
| Subfamily: | Halictinae |
| Genus: |
†Oligochlora Engel, 1996 |
| Subgenera and species | |
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Oligochlora is an extinct genus of sweat bee in the Halictidae subfamily Halictinae. The genus currently contains six species, all of which are known from the early Miocene Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola.
The genus was first described by Dr. Michael Engel in a 1996 paper published in the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. The genus name is a combination of "Oligo", from Oligocene a possible age of the amber and "chlora" from the genus Augochlora, the type genus of the tribe Augochlorini where Oligochlora is placed. Along with the genus description, the paper contained the description of the type species O. eickworti and the second species O. micheneri. Dr Engel described a third species, O. grimaldii in 1997. A fourth species, O. rozeni was published in 2000 and the genus was split into two subgenera, Oligochlora (Oligochlora) and Oligochlora (Soliapis). The subgenus Soliapis is named from the Latin words sola, meaning "alone", and apis, meaning "bee" in reference the lack of an acarinarium on O. rozeni. A fifth species, O. marquettorum was also published in 2000, jointly described by Dr. Engel and Molly G. Rightmyer and placed into O. (Soliapis). In 2009, with the publication of O. semirugosa by Dr. Engel, the total number of species was raised to six.
Oligochlora is most similar to the extant genus Neocorynura, from which it can be separated by the shapes of the mesoscutum and preoccipital ridge or the monotypic genus Thectochlora which also has a mutualistic relationship with specialized acarid mites. The genus also superficially resembles the genus Corynura but differs in a number of features including the lack of eye hairs.
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