FWIW, the paper underlying this change is Sheffield et al. (2020) and is available at https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/49918/. There is a rather wonderful history of confusion surrounding B. sonorina which Frederick originally described as occurring on the Sunda Islands in southeast Asia, but Lieftinck later determined that was a misreading of a specimen label that actually read "Sandw. Isl." aka Hawaii, leading to many decades of confusion.
BugGuide claims the name "sonorina" "refers to the sonorous sound of the bee" but I haven't found any explicit statement about the choice of name in these primary sources.
FWIW, the paper underlying this change is Sheffield et al. (2020) and is available at https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/49918/. There is a rather wonderful history of confusion surrounding B. sonorina which Frederick originally described as occurring on the Sunda Islands in southeast Asia, but Lieftinck later determined that was a misreading of a specimen label that actually read "Sandw. Isl." aka Hawaii, leading to many decades of confusion.
BugGuide claims the name "sonorina" "refers to the sonorous sound of the bee" but I haven't found any explicit statement about the choice of name in these primary sources.