Category: Distribution

  • New species records 29

    The examination of osmiine bee material collected by Thomas Wood in Bulgaria and Greece in 2024 revealed the following new country records:

    Bulgaria: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) praestans, H. (Anthocopa) corcyraea, Osmia (Helicosmia) signata

    Greece: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) loti, Osmia (Helicosmia) labialis. The former species was found at an elevation of 1900-2000 m in the Verno mountains in Western Macedonia and the latter species at an elevation of 1800 m in the Voras mountains in Central Macedonia, both localities are near the border to North Macedonia.

  • Hoplitis papaveris, H. perezi and H. mollis

    According to Fateryga et al. (2024), all records of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) papaveris from Crimea belong to Hoplitis (Anthocopa) perezi; so far, no reliable records exist for H. papaveris on Crimea. Furthermore, the authors list Hoplitis (Alcidamea) mollis for southern European Russia.

  • New species records 28

    Osmiine bee material provided by T. Ljubomirov and T. Trifonov revealed the following two new country records for Bulgaria: Hoplitis (Hoplitis) galichicae and Osmia (Osmia) mustelina.

  • Osmiine bees of Corsica

    In a recent publication (Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 97, 127-189, 2024) on the megachilid bees of Corsica, Le Divelec et al. (2024) report on the following findings:

    1. The records of Hoplitis (Alcidamea) claviventris and Osmia (Helicosmia) notata from Corsica are dubious;
    2. the records of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) mocsaryi, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) benoisti, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) loti, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) marchali and Osmia (Pyrosmia) cyanoxantha from Corsica are erroneous;
    3. the records of Chelostoma (Foveosmia) foveolatum and Protosmia (Nanosmia) minutula are new records for Corsica.
  • New species records 27

    Osmiine bee material collected by D. Baiocchi in northern Iraq in 2023 and provided by M. Selis revealed the following new country records: Chelostoma (Chelostoma) comosum, Chelostoma (Chelostoma) diodon, Chelostoma (Chelostoma) dolosum, Chelostoma (Chelostoma) emarginatum, Chelostoma (Chelostoma) mocsaryi, Chelostoma (Gyrodromella) hebraeum, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) serainae, Osmia (Allosmia) rufohirta, Osmia (Allosmia) sybarita, Osmia (Helicosmia) aquila, Osmia (Helicosmia) clypearis acuta, Osmia (Helicosmia) signata, Osmia (Pyrosmia) cephalotes, Osmia (Pyrosmia) nana, Osmia (Pyrosmia) saxicola, Osmia (Pyrosmia) teunisseni, Stenoheriades asiatica.

  • New species records 26

    Heinz Wiesbauer recently published the first record of Osmia (Melanosmia) inermis for Slovenia (Beiträge zur Entomofaunistik, 24, 55-61, 2023). Teodor Trifonov recorded Hoplitis (Hoplitis) pici for the first time in Bulgaria; he will publish this new country record soon.

  • New species records 25

    Osmiine bee material collected by T. Wood revealed the following new country records for the Lebanon: Osmia (Allosmia) lhotelleriei, Osmia (Allosmia) rufotibialis, Osmia (Helicosmia) dives, Osmia (Helicosmia) saxatilis, Osmia (Pyrosmia) cyanoxantha, Osmia (Pyrosmia) hellados and Osmia (Pyrosmia) viridana.

  • New species records 24

    Osmiine bee material collected by C. Schmid-Egger revealed the following new country records:

    Iran: Osmia (Helicosmia) breviata

    Oman: Hoplitis (Stenosmia) jordanica

  • New species records 23

    Osmiine bee material provided by W. H. Liebig revealed the following new country records for Iran: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) curvipes, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) stellaris and Hoplitis (Anthocopa) perezi.

  • New species records 22

    Osmiine bee material recently collected by A. Fateryga and M. Proshchalykin in Dagestan revealed the following new country records for Russia: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) caucasica, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) scita, Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) tringa, Osmia (Helicosmia) breviata and Osmia (Osmia) scheherazade

    Both sexes of Hoplitis scita from Dagestan have a significantly shorter proboscis than those from Kyrgistan, Siberia (Altai, Buryatia, Khakassia, Tyva), Mongolia and China. In addition, the females from Dagestan have a rather dense whitish hair band on the marginal zone of tergum 5, which is missing in females from the more eastern populations. Otherwise, the morphology (including the male sterna and genitalia), pubescense and colour are identical. Unfortunately, no specimens of H. scita are known from the large geographic area between the Dagestan population and the more eastern populations (e.g. from Kazakhstan) that would allow us to assess whether the intermediate populations have intermediate character states indicating a gradual morphological change. As long as no specimens from Kazakhstan are available, the specimens from Dagestan are tentatively treated as conspecific with specimens of H. scita from Kyrgistan, Siberia, Mongolia and China.