What is the scientific name of the bee nicknamed 'the bee that walks on water' found in the Chiricahua region?

What is the scientific name of the bee nicknamed 'the bee that walks on water' found in the Chiricahua region?

• A. Apis mellifera.
• B. Bombus terrestris.
• C. Ptilothrix chiricahua.
• D. Xylocopa californica.

Answer: (C)

Binomial names often carry geographic clues: the species epithet can reflect where a species was first found or is most associated with. Here, the epithet chiricahua explicitly links the bee to the Chiricahua region. That makes Ptilothrix chiricahua the best match for a bee described as nicknamed “the bee that walks on water” from Chiricahua, since the locality in the name directly ties it to that area. The other bees are real and widespread, but none have a locality-based epithet linking them to Chiricahua, so they don’t fit the geographic cue as well.

Binomial names often carry geographic clues: the species epithet can reflect where a species was first found or is most associated with. Here, the epithet chiricahua explicitly links the bee to the Chiricahua region. That makes Ptilothrix chiricahua the best match for a bee described as nicknamed “the bee that walks on water” from Chiricahua, since the locality in the name directly ties it to that area.

The other bees are real and widespread, but none have a locality-based epithet linking them to Chiricahua, so they don’t fit the geographic cue as well.