Hoplitis hyperplastica (Morawitz, 1894) was assumed by Warncke (1991h) to be a member of the subgenus Alcidamea due to a prominent tooth on sternum 1 in the male. However, new material from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan revealed that H. hyperplastica is a member of the Hoplitis monstrabilis species group of the subgenus Hoplitis.
Osmia (Helicosmia) kuznetzovi Cockerell, 1930 was synonymized with Osmia fasciata Latreille 1811 by Warncke (1992b). However, differences in morphology (clypeal shape, tergal punctation and fasciae, colour of scopa) and the disjunct distribution in mountaineous areas of eastern Turkey, the Levant, northern Iran and Central Asia do not support conspecifity with O. fasciata, which is a desert species ranging from the Levant over the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia. Thus, O. kuznetzovi is tentatively regarded here as a species of its own.
In a recent paper, Fateryga and Proshchalykin (Caucasian Entomological Bulletin, 16, 225-231, 2020) resurrect Hoplitis (Alcidamea) turcestanica (Dalla Torre) from synonymy with Hoplitis (Alcidamea) caularis (Morawitz) as postulated by Warncke (1991h).
An article in Zootaxa has recently been published dealing with the biology and taxonomy of Osmia bees of the subgenera Hemiosmia, Tergosmia and Erythrosmia (Zootaxa, 4778, 201-236, 2020). One new species is described: Osmia (Hemiosmia) spinicoxa spec. nov. from southwestern Morocco.
Based on topotypical specimens from the Chelmos mountains (Greece) and the original description, Hoplitis (Alcidamea) abnormis Zanden 1992 is a junior synonym of Hoplitis (Alcidamea) subbutea (Warncke, 1991).
An article in Zootaxa has recently been published dealing with the biology and taxonomy of Osmia (Hoplosmia) (Zootaxa, 4415, 297-329, 2017). One new species is described: Osmia (Hoplosmia) centaurea spec. nov. from Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
In a recent paper in Entomofauna (39, 187-191, 2018), G. Le Goff and A.R. Gonçalves described a new Protosmia species from Portugal.
The assignment of Hoplitis brunnescens (Benoist, 1950) to the subgenus Hoplitis by Warncke (1992a) is erroneous. The recent investigation of the female holotype revealed that H. brunnescens belongs to the subgenus Stenosmia and that the type specimen is probably conspecific with H. tagmouta (Warncke, 1991b). However, the type slightly differs from typical females of H. tagmouta by the longer vertex and the reddish colour of legs and terga 1-3 (partly also of terga 4 and 5), rendering a synonymization premature. Only further material including males will show whether H. brunnescens and H. tagmouta are conspecific or represent two distinct species. Hoplitis brunnescens sensu Warncke (1992a) has to be renamed.
In a recent paper in Zootaxa (4358, 351-364, 2017), two new Haetosmia species are described, i.e. H. ethiopiensis spec. nov. from eastern Africa and H. pakistaniensis spec. nov. from Pakistan. Formerly considered to be restricted to the southern Palaearctic region, the genus Haetosmia was found to also occur in the Afrotropics.
Hoplitis mucida was considered to consist of two subspecies with H. mucida mucida (Dours 1873) ranging from northwestern Africa to Israel and Jordan and H. mucida stecki (Frey-Gessner 1908) occurring in southwestern Europe and Sicily. As described in a recent publication (Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 60, 99-109, 2017), the nesting biology of the two subspecies strikingly differs. In North Africa, females construct fully exposed, cake-like nests of mud on the flat surface of rocks and stones containing 8–12 vertically oriented brood cells, rendering these nests unique among osmiine bees regarding both nesting site and nest architecture. In contrast, in Europe females build their few-celled mud nests inside small rock cavities. This discrepancy in the nesting biology is paralleled by considerable morphological differences between the two subspecies suggestive of a long geographical isolation. Due to these biological and morphological differences, the European subspecies H. mucida stecki was elevated to species rank by the authors of the publication mentioned above.