Palaearctic Osmiine Bees

In a recent publication (Zootaxa, 5551, 186-196, 2024), Sardar et al. redescribe the female of Osmia gulmargensis Nurse, 1903, which is known so far from Pakistan and India and whose subgeneric affiliation was unclear. Based on this redescription, O. gulmargensis most probably belongs to the subgenus Helicosmia. In the same publication, Osmia kashmirensis Nurse, 1903 from Pakistan is treated as a nomen dubium due to the insufficient original description and the probable loss of the male type.

In two recently published papers, Hoplitis (Hoplitis) andreasmuelleri from Dagestan and Hoplitis (Stenosmia) muelleri from central Spain were newly described (Fateryga et al., Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 97, 1417-1433, 2024; Álvarez Fidalgo, P. and Pascual Hergueto, J.I., Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa, 75, 103-113, 2024). See species accounts for details.

Hoplitis (Hoplitis) benoisti benoisti (Alfken, 1935) and H. (Hoplitis) benoisti gregaria (Warncke, 1992) exhibit an allopatric distribution, the former occurring in the southwestern European mediterranean area, the latter in the Maghreb. Both taxa morphologically differ by several substantial characters in the male and female sex (see Warncke, 1992 and Le Divelec, 2024). Hoplitis gregaria is therefore newly regarded as a species of its own.

In a recent paper (Annales de la société Entomologie de France, 2024, DOI: 10.1080/00379271.2024.2419083), R. le Divelec described the following three new species: Chelostoma (Foveosmia) incisum from Corsica, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) agnielae from Corsica and Hoplitis (Hoplitis) legoffi from Corsica and Sardinia. Hoplitis agnielae also occurs on Sardinia (A. Müller, unpublished). The three newly described species have very close relatives on the European mainland, i.e. Ch. distinctum, H. acuticornis and H. adunca, respectively.

R. Le Divelec discovered the female type of Heriades labiata Pérez, 1895 in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris. The specimen bears a label “Barcelone” indicating that the type locality lies in Spain and not in Algeria as assumed so far. This taxon is enigmatic as the type is the only individual that has ever been found, suggesting that the type might possibly be an aberrant specimen of Heriades rubicola Pérez, 1890.

Osmia (Melanosmia) bulgarica Friese, 1923 was treated by Warncke (1988c) and Ungricht et al. (2008) as a subspecies of Osmia inermis (Zetterstedt, 1838) and is currently known from the Mt. Olympus in Greece, the Pepeljak mountain in Northern Macedonia and the Apennine mountains in Italy. The females of O. inermis bulgarica differ from the nominotypical O. inermis by the complete lack of black hairs on the entire body except for the metasomal scopa and by the dense white pilosity on both terga 5 and 6. These differences in the colour of the body pilosity were considered not to be sufficient for treating O. inermis bulgarica as a species of its own. However, the recent examination of a single male of O. inermis bulgarica from the Mt. Olympus in Greece revealed a substantial difference in the width of the emargination at the apical margin of sternum 3, which casts doubts on the conspecifity of the two subspecies and supports the view that O. inermis bulgarica should be elevated to species rank. The females of O. bulgarica from southeastern Europe slightly differ morphologically from those from Italy. Pending the examination of more material and a closer investigation of O. bulgarica and O. inermis populations across all mediterranean mountain ranges, Osmia bulgarica is tentatively regarded here as a species of its own and the population from the Apennines is considered as conspecific with that from the Balkans.

In a recent publication (Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 97, 127-189, 2024), Le Divelec et al. (2024) elevate the Corsican endemite Hoplitis (Hoplitis) annulata corsaria (Warncke, 1991) to species rank based on clear morphological gaps and substantially diverging COI sequences compared to Iberian populations.

In a recent article in Alpine Entomology (8, 65-79, 2024), Hoplitis (Hoplitis) onosmaevae Aubert is described, which shows a  spectacular geographic disjunction occurring in the southwestern French Alps and in mountainous areas in Turkey and northern Iraq, two areas separated by at least 2000 km. 

R. Le Divelec discovered in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris the male holotype of Protosmia (Protosmia) monstrosa (Pérez, 1895), which was assumed to be lost. The male clearly belongs to P. (Protosmia) tiflensis (Morawitz, 1875). Thus, P. monstrosa is a junior synonym of P. tiflensis and not identical with P. (Protosmia) mirabilis (Friese, 1899) as assumed by Alfken (1935b).

After examination of the types, the two following synonymies suspected by Branstetter et al. (2021) are confirmed: i) Osmia (Osmia) yanbianense Wu, 2004 is a junior synonym of O. (Osmia) opima Romankova, 1985 and ii) Osmia (Osmia) rufinoides Wu, 2004 is a junior synonym of O. (Osmia) rufina Cockerell, 1931.

Specimens from Ukraine and Astrakhan assumed to be Hoplitis (Alcidamea) turcestanica by Fateryga & Proshchalykin, 2020) proved to be Hoplitis (Alcidamea) mollis (Ukraine, new country record) and a still undescribed H. (Alcidamea) species (Astrakhan). Most probably, H. turcestanica is restricted to Central Asia, it does neither occur in Ukraine nor in southern and central European Russia, and “H. turcestanica” in Banaszak & Romasenko (2001), Medvedev (1978) and Osytshnjuk et al. (1978) likely refers to H. mollis.