A recent study examining North American bee species belonging to the Lasioglossum genus has led to the describing of three previously unknown bee species from specimens collected from California, Arizona and Baja California. Due to their distinct metallic sheen, one was designated as Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) iridescens, while another was named Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) dilisena, derived from Sinhala, the majority-spoken language in Sri Lanka, with the word dilisena translating to “shining.” The third species is named Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) silveirai as a tribute to the late Fernando Silveira of the Federal University of Minas Gerais for his significant contribution to bee taxonomy. The newly described species are predominantly found in high-elevation areas in California, where climate change poses a significant threat, so scientists emphasize the importance of further research on their ecology and distribution. COLOMBO — Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island, lies far away from the United States and is just one-sixth the size of California. But interestingly, one of the three newly identified wild bee species described in California has been bestowed with a Sinhala name, a language exclusive to Sri Lanka. All three bees look alike and display an unusual metallic sheen on their body, so one of them was named Lasioglossum ( Sphecodogastra ) dilisena , as the word dilisena means “shining” in the Sinhala language. Thilina Hettiarachchi , a PhD student at the University of Manitoba in Canada and the first author of the study, suggested the inclusion. “Given that Thilina hails from Sri Lanka, it seemed apt to have a Sinhala word incorporated into one of the names, as scientific names are typically in Latin or Latinized Greek, which most people in North America may not speak. Then there’s no particular reason why Sinhala would be any less understandable,” said Jason Gibbs , associate professor of […]