Systematics of Scaura Schwarz, 1938 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini), with
biological notes. Scaura Schwarz 1938 is a neotropical little diverse and
distributed genus. It’s widely composed of workers with hind basitarsus as wide
as or wider than their tibia. The genus comprised five valid species, but with
evidence that there was a complex of species to be described. It was obtained
dry specimens, in various national and foreign collections, and studying this
material, a taxonomic revision and a phylogenetic analysis of all species of the
genus were proposed, resulting in a total of seven valid species: with three new
species and synonymy of Scaura tenuis (Ducke, 1916) under Scaura latitarsis
(Friese, 1900). An Illustrated worker identification key was proposed, and each
species previously described was redescribed to have a standardized
description with the addition of males and queens when possible. Every species
had its geographic distribution updated, as well as a compilation of data on
nesting biology and behavior. The phylogenetic analysis resulted in Scaura as a
monophyletic genus, and Schwarzula Moure, 1946 as its sister group. It is
noteworthy that the relationship between the Scaura species with short
metasoma still needs to have phylogenetic relationships best established. The
Scaura species with short metasoma needs more morphological caracteres and
new phylogenetic analyses for suggest better relationships.
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