New osmiine bee species in France

Matthieu Aubert and Christophe Philippe discovered Hoplitis (Hoplitis) lithodorae in southern France near Montpellier in spring 2013 and at other places in the Aude and Bouches du Rhone provinces in 2014. This species was hitherto known only from a small area in southwestern Spain (Müller, 2012). Flowers of Lithodora fruticosa were very common at the sites of H. lithodorae in southern France, suggesting that the species is indeed a Lithodora oligolege.



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