Bombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus Kriechbaumer 1870

6. Bombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus Kriechbaumer, 1870 Figs 1, 7–8, 33‒44, 95 Bombus niveatus Kriechbaumer, 1870: 101. Bombus vorticosus Gerstaecker, 1872: 290. Bombus (Kallobombus) Parnassius von Dalla Torre, 1882: 21. Bombus araraticus Radoszkowski, 1890: 502. Bombus (Sibiricobombus) asiaticus [subsp.] pallidofasciatus Vogt, 1909: 51. Bombus (Sibiricobombus) vorticosus Forma [= subsp.] postzonatus Vogt, 1911: 61, not of Vogt, 1911: 57 (= B. cullumanus (Kirby, 1802)). Bombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus var. [= subsp.] skorikowi Friese, 1911: 572, not of Vogt, 1911: 51 (= B. pratorum (Linnaeus, 1761)). Bombus (Sibiricobombus) vorticosus morpha [= subsp.] iranensis Pittioni, 1937: 120. Bombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus morpha [= subsp.] persicus Pittioni, 1937: 121, not of Radoszkowski, 1881: v (= B. persicus Radoszkowski, 1881). Pyrobombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus [subsp.] persiensis Rasmont, 1983: 168, replacement name for B. niveatus subsp. persicus Pittioni, 1937. Diagnosis Females Queens body length 17‒22 mm, workers 9‒16 mm. Colour pattern of the hair with the head predominantly black, legs black, the thoracic dorsum anterior and posterior bands, side of thorax, and metasomal T1‒2 either yellow or white, T3 at least in part either black or yellow or white, T4‒5 orange-red (Figs 33‒38). Morphology with the clypeus in its centre with scattered large and very many small punctures, so that the surface is uneven; hindleg basitarsus outer surface with short branched hairs long so that they are just overlapping and the shining surface is only partly obscured; (in large individuals) T6 subapically medially slightly but irregularly raised. Males Body length 15‒17 mm. Colour pattern of the hair with the head, side of thorax, legs, thoracic dorsum anterior and posterior bands and metasomal T1‒2 either yellow or white, T3 at least in part either black or yellow or white, T4‒7 orange-red (Figs 39‒44). Morphology with the eye greatly enlarged relative to the eye of a female bumblebee, from the dorsal aspect the eye separated from the lateral ocellus by 1× the ocellar breadth; S6 with the posterior margin in the middle with a deep concave indentation; volsella posterior to the gonostylus greatly broadened and weakly curved, penis-valve head on its inner side ventrally at the base marked by a ridge with a projecting angle, this angle also marked dorsally on a parallel dorsal ridge; penis-valve head recurved section narrowing abruptly just before the tip, volsella just beyond gonostylus 2 × its breadth between its distal posterior corners (Fig. 95). Type material Lectotype of Bombus niveatus (by designation of Tkalců 1969: 897) ISRAEL • ♀ (queen), “Palaestina”; ZSM (type not seen but identity not in doubt). Syntypes of Bombus vorticosus UNKNOWN • (syntypes of both sexes and castes); most from ”Krakau” [locality likely in error]; Nowicki leg.; (types not found by Tkalců 1969: 897, but identity not in doubt). Syntypes of Bombus (Kallobombus) parnassius GREECE • “ Parnass ”; (types not seen but identity not in doubt). Lectotype of Bombus araraticus (by designation of Tkalců 1969: 897) TURKEY • ♂; “Ararat”; O. Radoszkowski leg.; ZMB (type not seen but identity not in doubt). Syntypes of Bombus (Sibiricobombus) asiaticus [subsp.] pallidofasciatus RUSSIA • “ Kaukasus ”; unknown repository (types not seen but identity not in doubt). Syntypes of Bombus (Sibiricobombus) vorticosus Forma [= subsp.] postzonatus TURKMENISTAN • 2 ♀♀ (queens); “Krassnowodsk” [Turkmenbashi]; unknown repository (types not seen but identity not in doubt). Lectotype of Bombus (Sibiricobombus) vorticosus morpha [= subsp.] iranensis (designated here) IRAN • ♀ (queen); Alborz, Nissa; 1–10 Aug. 1936; Brandt leg.; NHMUK (examined PW). Lectotype of Bombus (Sibiricobombus) niveatus morpha [= subsp.] persicus (designated here)IRAN • ♀ (queen); Alborz, Nissa; 20 Jul.–1 Aug. 1936; Brandt leg.; NHMUK (examined PW). Material examined GEORGIA • 1 ♀ (queen); Calka, Bashdashi; 41.5891° N, 44.1330° E; 27 May 2011; BOLD no.: 1555A02 (COI); IEAUG, SB053. GREECE • 3 ♀♀ (workers); N of Lamia; 38.9365° N, 22.4300° E; 8 Jun. 2016; M. Halada leg.; BOLD nos: 6880G01 to 6880G03 (COI); PW, SB086 to SB088. IRAN • 1 ♀ (worker); Qazvin, Vikan; 36.3754° N, 50.6893° E; 9 Aug. 2011; A. Monfared leg.; PW, SB010 /NHMI010 • 1 ♀ (queen); Qazvin, Wikan [Vikan]; [36.3754° N, 50.6893° E]; 30 Jul. 2006; A. Taghavi leg.; PW, SB013 /NHMI028 • 1 ♀ (worker); Tehran, Damavand; 35.7013° N, 52.0586° E; 14 Jun. 2015; A. Monfared leg.; PW, SB009 /NHMI008 • 2 ♀♀ (worker, queen); Qazvin, Vikan; 36.3754° N, 50.6893° E; 9 Aug. 2011; A. Monfared leg.; PW, SB011/NHMI011, SB012/NHMI009. Distribution West Asian and European montane species ‒ Europe: ALBANIA, GREECE, UKRAINE, RUSSIA: Caucasus. ‒ West Asia: TURKEY, GEORGIA, SYRIA, LEBANON, ISRAEL, IRAN, TURKMENISTAN. (AM, GG, Naturalis, NHMUK, PW, UMons, ZIN, ZMB.) Records of B. niveatus from Xizang (Wang 1982) are misidentifications of B. (Melanobombus) keriensis Morawitz, 1887 (Williams et al. 2020). Behaviour Because the male eye is greatly enlarged relative to the eye of a female bumblebee and the male antenna is strongly elongated, the male mate-searching behaviour is expected to be similar to the “racing” behaviour described for “ B. asiaticus ” (actually B. longiceps stat. rev.) with these morphological characteristics by Williams (1991). Taxonomic remarks Note on the syntypes of B. vorticosus Gerstaecker, 1872: described as most syntypes from “Krakau” [locality likely in error]; Nowicki leg.; (types not found by Tkalců 1969: 897, but identity not in doubt). The given type locality is very unlikely to be either Kraków (Poland) or Krakau (Austria) as these are far too far north for this species. Note on the lectotype of B. vorticosus morpha iranensis Pittioni, 1937 designated here: the original description data from Pittioni (1937) match one of the specimens in the NHMUK collection. Because other specimens were listed, this individual, which lacks both antennae (labels: (1) printed “ IRAN: ELBURS-GEB. / NISSA, (CA.3000 M.) / 1.8. – 10.8.1936 / LEG.BRANDT”; (2) hand-written “ vortic. ira - / ♀ nensis Pitt / det. Pittioni”; (3) hand-written with black border “f. iranensis / Pitt typ.”; (4) printed “Pittioni Coll. / Turner Bequest / B.M. 1954-76”; (5) printed “[barcode] / NHMUK 013380602”; (6) printed “ Bombus / (Sibiricobombus) / niveatus / det. PH Williams 2022”; (7) red hand-written “ LECTOTYPE ♀ / Bombus vorticosus / morpha [= ssp.] / iranensis / Pittioni, 1937 / det. PH Williams 2023 ”) is designated as lectotype in order to reduce uncertainty in the identity of the taxon and in the application of the name. Note on the lectotype of B. niveatus morpha persicus Pittioni, 1937 designated here: the original description data from Pittioni (1937) match one of the specimens in the NHMUK collection. Because other specimens were listed, this individual, which lacks the right antenna (labels: (1) red hand-written “Type”; (2) printed “B.M. TYPE / HYM / 17b.1318”; (3) printed “ IRAN: ELBURS-GEB. / NISSA, (CA.3000 M.) / 20.7. – 1.8.1936 / LEG.BRANDT”; (4) hand-written “ niveatus per - / ♀ sicus Pitt / det. Pittioni”; (5) printed “Pittioni Coll. / Turner Bequest / B.M. 1954-76”; (6) printed “[barcode] / NHMUK 013380602”; (7) printed “ Bombus / (Sibiricobombus) / niveatus / det. PH Williams 2022”; (8) red hand-written “ LECTOTYPE ♀ / Bombus niveatus / morpha [= ssp.] / persicus / Pittioni, 1937 / det. PH Williams 2023 ”) is designated as lectotype in order to reduce uncertainty in the identity of the taxon and in the application of the name. The taxon concept of the species B. niveatus here agrees with the recent interpretation (e.g., Williams 1998; Monfared et al. 2007; Rasmont et al. 2021) of a species separate from B. sulfureus, presenting evidence that: (1) our PTP analysis supports independent species-level coalescents in the COI gene (Fig. 1); corroborated by (2) diagnostic morphological character states (see the keys). This separation of B. niveatus from B. sulfureus is also supported by a difference in CLGS (Rasmont et al. 2005). The species-level coalescent in the COI gene (Fig. 1) also supports as conspecific the white-banded taxon niveatus s. str. and the yellow-banded taxon vorticosus. Conspecificity is corroborated by their morphology (see the keys) and by their similar male CLGS mixtures (Rasmont et al. 2005). It has been claimed that the two taxa “differ significantly” in habitat (Rasmont et al. 2021), although it also appears that their distributions are broadly overlapping and geographically concentric, with the white-banded colour pattern the more frequent at higher elevations (where it co-occurs with other white-banded bumblebees). This might be explained by mimetic selection in favour of different mimetic model patterns at different elevations. It is common for pale-banded mountain bumblebees to have both yellow- and white-banded colour patterns that are more frequent in different areas (Williams 2007). There are several examples of this in the subgenus Melanobombus (Williams et al. 2020). Both the yellow-banded and the white-banded colour patterns also vary in whether T3 is entirely black (Greece, Turkey, Lebanon) or, in the Alborz mountains of northern Iran, has more extensive pale hair (yellow taxon iranensis, white taxon persiensis), varying from a posterior fringe on T3 to covering T3 entirely in the male (Pittioni’s infrasubspecific taxon brandti). Individuals with T3 extensively yellow resemble B. sulfureus.