Author: muelandr

  • Phylogeny of three subgenera of Osmia

    Recently, a combined molecular and morphological phylogeny of the three closely related Osmia subgenera (Monosmia, Osmia, Orientosmia) has been published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (Haider et al., 2013).

  • Evolution of host range in three subgenera of Osmia

    A recent paper in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society by Haider et al. (2013) report on the host range evolution in Osmia bees of the subgenera Monosmia, Osmia and Orientosmia.

  • Changes in subgeneric classification 5

    A recent study (Haider et al., 2013) on the phylogeny and floral hosts of Osmia bees of the subgenera Monosmia, Osmia and Orientosmia revealed paraphyly of the largest subgenus Osmia. Given this paraphyly in conjunction with the pronounced morphological resemblance among the species of all three subgenera, the authors propose to to merge Monosmia (1 species), Osmia (25 species) and Orientosmia (3 species) into one single large subgenus Osmia.

  • New species records 13

    The examination of osmiine bee material received from the Oberösterreichische Landesmuseum Linz revealed the following new country records:

    Afghanistan: Osmia (Metallinella) brevicornis

    Albania: Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) pomarina

    Armenia: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) manicata

    Bulgaria: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) grossepunctata, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) nicolaei, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) pallicornis

    Croatia: Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) laevifrons

    Iran: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) carinata, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) strymonia

    Kyrgyzstan: Hoplitis (Formicapis) latifemoralis

    Madeira (Portugal): Osmia (Helicosmia) niveata

    Romania: Hoplitis (Micreriades) mazzuccoi

    Syria: Osmia (Osmia) cornuta quasirufa, Osmia (Tergosmia) rhodoensis

     

  • New synonymies 14

    Based on the type material, Heriades (Michenerella) dalmatica Maidl, 1922 is a junior synonym of Heriades (Michenerella) punctulifera Schletterer, 1889. Apart from the colour of the antenna, which is often yellowish in specimens from the Balkans and usually brownish in specimens from Turkey and the Near East, individuals from Europe and Asia exactly correspond to each other morphologically in both the female and the male sex.

  • Osmia nuda is a valid species

    New osmiine bee material from eastern Europe, which contained males of an Allosmia species with a peculiar morphology, and the re-examination of the female lectotype of Osmia nuda Friese, 1899 revealed that the recent synonymization of Osmia nuda with Osmia rufohirta Latreille, 1811 by A. Müller is erroneous (see “New synonymies 6” from 5.1.2011) . O. nuda is a species of its own. It is very similar to dwarfish females of O. rufohirta, but distinctly differs from that species in male sternal characters.

  • New species records 12

    Osmiine bee material recently received from Stefan Risch and the Oberösterreichische Landesmuseum Linz revealed the following new country records:

    Bulgaria: Osmia (Helicosmia) labialis

    Croatia: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) carinata, Hoplitis (Micreriades) mazzuccoi, Osmia (Allosmia) bischoffi, Osmia (Neosmia) bicolor, Osmia (Pyrosmia) hellados

    Hungary: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) manicata

    Israel: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) brachypogon

    Serbia and Montenegro: Chelostoma (Foveosmia) foveolatum, Heriades (Heriades) crenulatus, Osmia (Helicosmia) aurulenta, Osmia (Helicosmia) caerulescens, Osmia (Helicosmia) melanogaster, Osmia (Helicosmia) niveata

  • New species records 11

    Several samples of osmiine bees recently received from Naturalis (Leiden) and the American Museum of Natural History (New york) revealed the following new country records:

    Andorra: Heriades (Heriades) truncorum, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) adunca, Osmia (Osmia) bicornis, Osmia (Helicosmia) caerulescens, Osmia (Metallinella) brevicornis

    Israel: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) mocsaryi, Osmia (Helicosmia) mirhiji

    Portugal: Protosmia (Nanosmia) asensioi

    Russia: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) caucasicola

    Turkey: Osmia (Helicosmia) mirhiji

     

  • New species records for Europe

    Stenoheriades maroccanus and Hoplitis (Chlidoplitis) teucrii have been recorded so far only from Morocco. The examination of a large osmiine bee material kindly provided by Max Schwarz (Ansfelden) and Fritz Gusenleitner (Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum Linz) revealed that both species have a wider distribution than hitherto assumed: S. maroccanus also occurs  in southern Spain and Sicily, and H. teucrii in southern Spain. In addition, Hoplitis (Micreriades) antalyae, formerly known only from Turkey, is distributed also on several islands of the Aegean.

  • New synonymies 13

    The male holotype of Heriades integra Benoist, 1934 could not be localized at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris. The species is treated as a member of the genus Stenoheriades by Griswold (1994) and Ungricht et al. (2008). However, the original description lists several characters (spined axilla, rounded tergum 7, no transversal carina between vertical and horizontal part of tergum 1) that excludes its membership to Stenoheriades. Instead, these characters exclusively apply to Osmia (Hoplosmia) scutellaris Morawitz, 1868. Thus, Heriades integra is a junior synonym of Osmia scutellaris.