Palaearctic Osmiine Bees

Several samples of osmiine bees received from F. Gusenleitner, R. Prosi, M. Schwarz, H. Özbek, A. Dorchin, A. Gotlieb and R. Khodaparast revealed the following new country records:

Bulgaria: Osmia (Helicosmia) aurulenta, Osmia (Helicosmia) dives, Osmia (Osmia) cornuta, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) tridentata

Corsica: Osmia (Helicosmia) aurulenta, Osmia (Helicosmia) caerulescens

Iran: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) mocsaryi, Osmia (Helicosmia) subcornuta

Israel: Osmia (Helicosmia) caerulescens, Osmia (Helicosmia) milenae, Osmia (Helicosmia) pennata

Kazakhstan: Osmia (Tergosmia) tergestensis

Kyrgyzstan: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) acuticornis, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) praestans, Osmia (Helicosmia) dimidiata, Osmia (Melanosmia) pamirensis

Portugal: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) antigae, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) saundersi (first record in Europe)

Tunisia: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) antigae

Turkey: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) saxialis

Uzbekistan: Osmia (Helicosmia) dives

In a recent publication, Jozan (2009) lists 48 osmiine bee species for Croatia, 11 of which are new records for this country: Chelostoma (Foveosmia) styriacum, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) acuticornis, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) praestans, Hoplitis (Prionohoplitis) campanularis, Osmia (Allosmia) rufohirta, Osmia (Helicosmia) aurulenta, Osmia (Helicosmia) leaiana, Osmia (Hoplosmia) scutellaris, Osmia (Metallinella) brevicornis, Osmia (Osmia) mustelina and Osmia (Tergosmia) tergestensis. The species identity of two of the listed species is doubtful: Hoplitis (Micreriades) tenuispina is rather Hoplitis (Micreriades) mazzuccoi due to the known distribution ranges of these two species and Protosmia (Protosmia) tauricola might possibly be another Protosmia species due to the difficulties in reliably identifying females of this genus.

A closer study of the Hoplitis (Anthocopa) species belonging to the singularis group (“Glossosmia“) revealed that several erroneous or doubtful records exist in the literature, which are due to difficulties in reliably separating the different species in the female sex. In addition, three names have to be synonymized. The following new findings were incorporated into the website:

i) Hoplitis bipartita (Friese, 1899) is a synonym of Hoplitis grumi (Morawitz, 1894) based on the original description, Zanden (1986) and new material from Central Asia.

ii) Hoplitis cypriaca bayburtensis (Tkalcu, 1980) from eastern Turkey was hitherto known only in the female sex. In a sample of bees collected in the region around Erzurum (coll. H. Özbek), a single male was found. Morphologically, this specimen closely corresponds to Hoplitis grumi (Morawitz, 1894) as do the females. Thus, H. cypriaca bayburtensis is newly synonymized with H. grumi.

iii) Hoplitis fasciculata described by Alfken (1934) in the female sex from Sardinia is not synonymous with Hoplitis rugidorsis (Pérez, 1895) as claimed by Zanden (1986), but is identical to Hoplitis idalia (Mavromoustakis, 1948). In fact, all Glossosmia males recorded so far from Sardinia are typical H. idalia. Thus, H. idalia is a junior synonym of H. fasciculata.

iv) The record of Hoplitis anipuncta (Alfken, 1935) from Crete (Zanden, 1989), which is based on collected females, is most probably erronoeus. These females certainly belong to Hoplitis fasciculata (Alfken, 1934).

v) Hoplitis hemisphaerica (Alfken, 1935) also occurs in Iran.

vi) The literature records of Hoplitis singularis (Morawitz, 1875) from Israel and Turkey are highly doubtful.

vii) Hoplitis grumi (Morawitz, 1894), for which reliable records exist for Spain, also occurs in Morocco.

viii) All females of Hoplitis grumi from Spain and Portugal in the collection of G. van der Zanden (Naturalis, Leiden) belong to Hoplitis zaianorum (Benoist, 1927). Thus, no reliable record of H. grumi exists for Portugal.

A closer study of the Hoplitis (Anthocopa) species belonging to the villosa group (“Arctosmia“) revealed several erroneous distribution records and one new synonymy:

i) The records of Hoplitis graeca (Tkalcu, 2000) and Hoplitis villosa (Schenck, 1853) from Turkey and of Hoplitis unispina (Alfken, 1935) from Greece are erroneous.

ii) Hoplitis graeca ionica (Tkalcu, 2000) is synonymous to Hoplitis obtusa (Friese, 1899) based on material from Rhodes and western Turkey.

Several samples of osmiine bees received from W. Arens, A. Dorchin, and M. Schwarz revealed the following new country records:

Greece: Osmia (Helicosmia) breviata (first record in Europe), Hoplitis (Anthocopa) saxialis, Hoplitis (Micreriades) mazzuccoi

Israel: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) yermasoyiae

Jordan: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) daniana

Syria: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) daniana

Turkey: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) daniana

A field trip by Christophe Praz and Claudio Sedivy to Israel in spring 2010 revealed the following new country records: Chelostoma (Foveosmia) maidli, Haetosmia circumventa, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) tridentata, Hoplitis (Prionohoplitis) campanularis and Hoplitis (Stenosmia) jordanica. In addition, the hitherto unknown male of Hoplitis (Bytinskia) negevensis and the unknown female of Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) enslini were found.

Several samples of osmiine bees received from M. Schwarz, F. Gusenleitner, A. Dorchin, C. Praz and C. Sedivy revealed the following new country records:

Azerbaijan: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) leucomelana, Hoplitis (Annosmia) annulata crenulata, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) agis, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) carinata

Bulgaria: Osmia (Osmia) cerinthidis

Iran: Hoplitis (Annosmia) mutica, Hoplitis (Annosmia) uncaticornis, Hoplitis (Chlidoplitis) illustris, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) flabellifera, Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) minor, Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) tringa, Osmia (Helicosmia) aeruginosa, Osmia (Helicosmia) chrysaetos, Osmia (Helicosmia) dives, Osmia (Helicosmia) fasciata, Osmia (Orientosmia) maxillaris scheherazade, Osmia (Pyrosmia) cyanoxantha, Osmia (Pyrosmia) dilaticornis, Osmia (Pyrosmia) laticauda, Osmia (Pyrosmia) saxicola, Osmia (Pyrosmia) viridana

Israel and Palestine: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) acuticornis, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) agis, Osmia (Helicosmia) melanogaster, Osmia (Helicosmia) saxatilis, Osmia (Tergosmia) rhodoensis

Morocco: Heriades (Heriades) truncorum, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) batyamae, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) longispina

Portugal: Hoplitis (Alcidamea) tridentata, Osmia (Tergosmia) tergestensis

Syria: Hoplitis (Annosmia) mutica, Hoplitis (Prionohoplitis) curvipes, Osmia (Hoplosmia) distinguenda, Osmia (Pyrosmia) dilaticornis

Tunisia: Heriades (Heriades) fertoni, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) tricolor, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) ilamana, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) oxypyga, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) rubricrus, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) saundersi, Hoplitis (Anthocopa) zaianorum, Hoplitis (Prionohoplitis) epeoliformis, Osmia (Erythrosmia) sparsipuncta, Osmia (Hoplosmia) scutellaris, Osmia (Metallinella) brevicornis subcyanea, Osmia (Osmia) emarginata infuscata, Wainia (Caposmia) eremoplana

Gogala (2009b) recorded Hoplitis (Micreriades) mazzuccoi for the first time in Slovenia.

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.

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.