Three samples of bees from Israel (collected by A. Dorchin), Crete (collected by U. Frommer) and Morocco (collected by M. Snizek) revealed first records of Osmia (Erythrosmia) erythrogastra and Osmia (Osmia) bicornis for Israel, Chelostoma (Foveosmia) hellenicum and Heriades (Heriades) rubicola for Crete, and Osmia (Helicosmia) dimidiata for Northern Africa.
Author: muelandr
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Osmia melanogaster reared from a snail shell
Stefan Werner reared a female of Osmia (Helicosmia) melanogaster from a snail shell collected on the island of Mallorca in 2001. This observation supports earlier findings that this species occasionally uses empty snail shells as nesting sites.
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Biology of osmiine bees from far eastern Russia
Tatiana Romankova kindly contributed flower records as well as information on the nesting biology of several species from far eastern Russia, i.e. Osmia (Osmia) opima, Osmia (Osmia) pedicornis, Osmia (Osmia) taurus, Osmia (Helicosmia) orientalis and Hoplitis (Formicapis) maritima.
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Hoplitis uncaticornis does not occur in Greece
The mention of Hoplitis (Annosmia) uncaticornis as occurring in Greece by Ungricht et al. (2008) is erroneous. The reexamination of the Greek material attributed to H. uncaticornis revealed that these specimens belong to a still undescribed species (or subspecies) close to Hoplitis (Annosmia) gentilis.
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Osmia ariadne new for Turkey
Osmia (Osmia) ariadne was known only from Crete so far. In a sample of bees collected by B. Merz near Antalya, the species was newly recorded for Turkey.
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Hoplitis nisa new for Tunisia
Hoplitis (Annosmia) nisa was known so far only from Morocco and Algeria. In a sample of bees collected by M. Schwarz in southern Tunisia, a male and a female of H. nisa were found. Interestingly, the abdomen of these bees are red-coloured in contrast to specimens of H. nisa from southern Morocco, which possess a black-coloured abdomen.
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New synonymies 4
Based on the type specimens, Hoplitis (Annosmia) lefeberi Zanden, 1991 and Hoplitis (Annosmia) hierichonica wolfi (Warncke, 1991) are identical species. The former name is the junior synonym due to the date of publication.
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New species records for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
In a sample of bees from Central Asia collected by L. R. Best, two new species for Kyrgyzstan (Hoplitis (Alcidamea) capsulifer and Osmia (Helicosmia) prasina) and one new species for Tajikistan (Hoplitis (Anthocopa) perezi) were found.
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Hoplitis aqabaensis new for Tunisia
Hoplitis (Annosmia) aqabaensis has been recorded only in Jordan so far. In a sample of bees collected by M. Schwarz in Tunisia, bee specimens were found that exactly correspond to the type material of H. aqabaensis. Thus, H. aqabaensis has a considerably wider distribution than previously assumed.
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New species records for Macedonia
The collection of the Slovenian Museum of Natural History contains specimens of the following three species, which are new records for Macedonia: Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) pomarina, Osmia (Hoplosmia) spinigera and Osmia (Pyrosmia) laticauda (A. Gogala, personal communication).