New Record of the Species Amegilla niveocincta (Smith, 1854)(Hymenoptera:Apidae) in Iraq

The current study showed species Amegilla niveocincta (Smith, 1854) recorded for first time to entomofauna of Iraq, which collected from different flowering plants during 2022 from different localities of Iraq. The synonyms of species were supplied from GBIF(2023).


Introduction
Apidae family is one of the largest families of order Hymenoptera, including about 5700 described species, honey bees Apis mellifera and stingless bees that are used for honey production and nonhoney-producing (carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, bumblebees), many others, which are important pollinators of natural plants and agricultural crops.[1,2].The larvae and adults of this family feed on flower nectar and pollen to obtain energy (Delaplane and Mayer, 2000) [3,4]. .Bees play a major role in naturally pollinating flowering plants, and provide great benefit to humanity by increasing food security, improving livelihoods, and preserving biodiversity in agricultural and natural ecosystems.[4] The pollination services provided by Apidae family are vital in the production of many crops as well as natural vegetatation.[5,6].The sources mentioned that 66% of the 1,500 species of crops need bees to complete the cross-pollination process, and the effect of this factor is estimated at 15-30% of crop production.[7,8].In addition to the great benefit of honey, propolis and Royal jelly [01,00,01].According to [02], this family includes three subfamilies Apinae, Nomadinae and Xylocopinae.Amegilla Friese, 1897 is one of very important genus of this family.Which belonging to the sub family Apinae, which includes about 252 species [02].It is distributed at temperate natural regions of the southwestern United States, the, eastern Africa, eastern Asia, Mediterranean basin and Australia [03,04].They are solitary bees, however most of them make nests in large aggregations Nearly all species make nests in the soil, either in banks or in flat ground [05,06].The taxonomical characters of genus members Amegilla Friese,1897 identified by: Three sub marginal cells in forewing, Sub marginal cross veins well developed, Jugal lobe more than one forth as long as vannal lobe,basal vein straight, Labial palp flattened and sheath-like, Pygidial plate present in all female and most males; Arolia absent [02,07,4,05].
The species of Amegilla were previously listed in Iraq by [08].Amegilla albigena (Lepeletier, 1841) under the name of Lasius (Anthophora) albigena, Amegilla quadrifasciata (de Villers, 1789) was listed by [11] under the name Anthophora quadrifasciata Vill, Amegilla incana (Klug, 1845) and Amegilla farinosa (Klug, 1845) listed by [10].Augul [11] referred to recent records of species of the family through an update of the list of pollinators in Iraq.In the present paper showed a new record species of Amegilla niveocincta (Smith, 1854) for the first time in Iraq.

Material and Methods
Specimens used in this investigation were collected during the surveys of some Iraqi regions throughout 2022.The specimens were collected from different localities of Iraqi Provinces: Baghdad, Babylon, Diyala, Duhok, ,Saladin and Wasit by use sweep net on a sunny day throughout the entire flowering period of plants.The collected bee specimens were kept in plastic containers.At the laboratory specimens were mounted by insect pins, each specimen were labeled by labels which contain the host plant, date and localities of collecting.All specimens were kept in wooden insect boxes.The photographs were taking with Huawei nova 7i, (Sony-IMX586) a Canon EOS 500D digital SLR camera, Dino-Lite Digital MicroscopePremier, and used binocular dissecting microscope (MB.MARIOBROMA, Roma) to magnificent the morphological features.Scale bars were given for all the images.Identification: The specimens were diagnosed by using different keys, such as: [23,14,13,18,5,16].The synonyms that mentioned in the current results are based on the [24].

Result and Discussion
Family: Apidae Subfamily: Apinae Genus: Amegilla Friese, 1897 Tribe: Anthophorini Amegilla niveocincta (Smith, 1854) Synonyms: Anthophora bimaculifera Walker, 1871 .A. niveocincta Smith, 1854 .Podalirius albigenus subsp.flaviceps Friese, 1899 .P. bimaculifera (Walker, 1871) .P.bimaculosus Dalla Torre, 1896 Distribution: India [16], Thailand [26], Pakistan [27], Malaysia and Srilanka [25]. Head Head is black nearly triangular, with yellow sculpture in clypeus.Compound eyes oval , are dark brown and surrounded by thick yellow hair, Ocelli dark brown, arranged as triangle shape, median ocellus bigger than lateral ocelli, lateral ocelli lower than upper margin of compound eyes equal in size,Malar space narrow.Vertex slightly convex with densely yellow setae.Frons strongly convex ,with yellow sculpture coarsely with densely yellow setae.Antenna geniculate, ferruginous, consist of 13 segments , scape from the front has a yellow spot, first flagellomere longer than each rest segments.Clypeus has on each sides at base an elongate black spot.labrum and the mandibles yellow , labrum nearly rectangular ,finely punctate, has afuscous spot on each side at base, apex of mandibles ferruginous.pubescence on face and gena white.vertex and the disc of thorax it is pale fulvous hairs ,the tips of hairs being black.(fig.2).

Diagnostic Characters
Clypeus with inverted T shaped yellow mark.Clypeus having triangular spot shows yellow color on its anterior margin it is black, Scape with yellow spot, Abdomen beneath is rusty brown, Abdomen with distinct transverse pubescent fasciae above, Tl to T5 all terga with apical bands of hair ,Abdomen beneath ferruginous.Amegilla niveocincta (Smith, 1854) Similar to species Amegilla mucorea (Klug, 1845), but the latter differs from it in Clypeus with A shaped yellow mark, Scape without yellow spot.

Conclusion
The Apidae species have to be considered in conservation regulations as entities to protect, but also as active participants in the reproductive ecology of wild plants.They can also be introduced in longterm plans for sustainable agriculture as more information is available to estimate their pollination service value.Amgilla niveocincta is considered a very important pollinator for important agricultural crops through its presence during the flowering period to complete pollination.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. N: Notum; mesothorax; metathorax; T: tegula.Wings: For wing length (7-8mm)transparent with three submarginal cells ,first submarginal cell(1SMC) is slightly larger than the second and third Submarginal, It has short and sparse hair, cross veins well developed.2rs-m strongly arched , basal vein is straight.End of forewings and hind wings densely papillate..Jugal lobe present in hindwing and is less than half the length of vanal lobe.(fig.4A,B).