Phylogeny and new species of the Neotropical bee genus Paroxystoglossa Moure (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)

Paroxystoglossa is a solitary, ground-nesting bee genus. It was revised in 1960 and currently includes nine species from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The objectives of this contribution are to provide a morphological phylogeny for the group and to describe two new species: P. levigata n.sp. and P. mourella n.sp. Paroxystoglossa is monophyletic and three species groups are recognized, jocasta species group: (P. mourella n.sp., (P. brachycera, (P. jocasta, P. barbata))), transversa species group: (P. transversa, P. levigata n.sp.), and crossotos species group: (P. mimetica, (P. crossotos, P. seabrai, (P. andromache, P. spiloptera))). The crossotos and transversa species groups were considered as sister groups. Interestingly Paroxystoglossa species have very similar male genital capsules an uncommon pattern among Augochlorini genera. The species groups have a widely redundant distribution indicating replication events in southeastern South America. An updated, illustrated key for species identification is also presented. Keywords: Augochlorini, Biogeography, Halictidae, Sweat bees, Taxonom