Palaearctic Osmiine Bees

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

In a sample of bees collected by David Baldock, two new osmiine bee species for Portugal were found: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) papaveris and Osmia (Metallinella) brevicornis. In addition, Osmia (Hemiosmia) argyropyga and Osmia (Helicosmia) niveocincta were added to the Catalogue as occurring in Portugal (Kuhlmann, 1996).

According to Ungricht et al. (2008), Hoplitis (Alcidamea) garzetta (Warncke, 1991) has been recorded in Greece. This record is erroneous as all specimens from Greece formerly identified as H. garzetta were recently found to belong to the closely related Hoplitis (Alcidamea) bispinosa Zanden, 1992. So far, H. garzetta is known to occur only in Turkey.

In a sample of bees recently received from the American Museum of Natural History, several new species records were established: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) batyamae (Zanden, 1986): new record for Egypt (collected by J.G. Rozen and S.M. Kamel); Hoplitis (Anthocopa) jakovlevi (Radoszkowski, 1874): new record for Armenia (collected by S. Droege); Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) nitidula (Morawitz, 1877): new record for Pakistan (unknown collector); Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) rufopicta (Morawitz, 1875): new record for Pakistan (collected by J.G. Rozen).

In a sample of osmiine bees collected by David Baldock, two species were found that have never been recorded for Portugal so far: Hoplitis (Anthocopa) bisulca (Gerstaecker, 1869) and Hoplitis (Hoplitis) ochraceicornis (Ferton, 1902).

The rare Osmia (Melanosmia) steinmanni (Müller, 2002), which was known so far only from a few localities in the Swiss Alps, has recently been discovered in South Tirol, Italy (Kopf, 2008).