urbanum or urbanus…

Author Koh Lin ◦

The question is… “Lasioglossum (Homalictus) urbanum” and “Homalictus urbanus”, the same bee, so which is the correct spelling “urbanum‘ or “urbanus” … ALA has “Lasioglossum (Homalictus) urbanum“.

Cath McInnes
Same bee, different classification. See link
Now that Homalictus to Lasioglossum has changed gender so has its specific epithet, thus the new suffix :):) https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article-abstract/50/2/268/1698274

Colin Leel
Is it that “urbanum” is classified as “neuter”, whilst “urbanus” is masculine of Latin origin… I think I have to rewrite some content on my site to update “urbanus” to the recognised “urbanum” … although maybe keep mention of “urbanus“… ALA only shows Lasioglossum (Homalictus) urbanum, iNat does mentions Homalictus urbanus (as Other Names) 

Ken Walker
Same species. Over time, names evolve to better indicate a species relationships with other species. The original combination was Halictus urbanus. But then Halictus and Homalictus were separated and some names remained with Halictus while others were transferred to Homalictus urbanus. Then the above 2001 paper resolved that Homalictus should be a subgenus of Lasioglossum and so the current valid combination is Lasioglossum urbanum. Name change over time and the gender of the species name but agree with the gender of the genus – in this case male. So Halictus urbanus and Homalictus urbanus are invalid names and the valid name is Lasioglossum urbanum. One species, one name with a history of previous now invalid names.

Check out our section on Bees > Lasioglossum (Homalictus) > Lasioglossum (Homalictus) urbanum and Alice Springs Lasioglossum (Homalictus) urbanum

---

---

Check out other blogs by Koh Lin.