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.
Hoplitis (Anthocopa) jerichoensis (Zanden, 1996) is a junior synonym of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) semirubra (Friese, 1899) based on a topotypical male paratype and the original description.
Hoplitis (Anthocopa) quarzazati (Zanden, 1998) is a junior synonym of Hoplitis (Platosmia) platalea (Warncke, 1990) based on the male holotype.
Hoplitis (Anthocopa) maroccana (Zanden, 1998) is a junior synonym of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) batyamae (Zanden, 1986) based on the male holotype.
Male type specimens of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) maghrebensis (Zanden, 1992) are identical to Hoplitis (Platosmia) incognita Zanden, 1996, rendering H. incognita a junior synonym of H. maghrebensis. The female of H. maghrebensis as described in Zanden (1992) is a still undescribed Hoplitis (Anthocopa) species.
Osmia (Helicosmia) ardeola Warncke, 1988 is a junior synonym of Osmia (Helicosmia) niveibarbis Pérez, 1902 based on new material from Spain. According to Zanden (1996b), Osmia (Helicosmia) heteracantha Pérez, 1896 is synonymous to O. ardeola. Thus, the valid name of this taxon is O. heteracantha.
The female paratypes of Hoplitis (Anthocopa) conosimilis Zanden, 1992 are identical to Hoplitis (Hoplitis) benoisti (Alfken, 1935), whereas the male holotype is a typical Hoplitis (Anthocopa) species.
Osmia (Hoplosmia) picena (Tkalcu, 1999) has a very restricted geographic distribution. To our present knowledge, it exclusively occurs in mountaineous areas of Central Italy. The species was known so far only in the female sex. On an excursion to the Abbruzzi mountains in August 2010, A. Müller discovered the unknown male.
The subgenus name Microhoplitis Tkalcu, 1993 is a junior homonym of the lepidopteran genus name Microhoplitis Marumo, 1920 (Kocak and Kemal, 2010). As there is no junior synonym of Microhoplitis Tkalcu, 1993, Kocak and Kemal propose Tkalcua as replacement name.
Based on the type specimens, Hoplitis (Annosmia) lefeberi Zanden, 1991 and Hoplitis (Annosmia) hierichonica wolfi (Warncke, 1991) are identical species. The former name is the junior synonym due to the date of publication.
In two samples of bees collected at the same locality and date in Turkey and Iran, respectively, females of Osmia (Pyrosmia) oramara Warncke, 1992 were found together with several males that exactly correspond to the description of the male of Osmia (Helicosmia) livida by Tkalcu (1978). As in both samples no females of O. livida were found, the male of O. livida as described by Tkalcu (1978) might be the still unknown male of O. oramara. If further material should support this assumption, then i) O. oramara would be a member of the subgenus Helicosmia rather than of the subgenus Pyrosmia, and ii) the male of O. livida would be still unknown.
Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) laeviscutum (Alfken, 1933) is a junior synonym of Hoplitis (Pentadentosmia) rufopicta (Morawitz, 1875). Several males and females of Pentadentosmia from Central Asia, which were identified by V. B. Popov as Hoplitis rufopicta, were found to be morphologically identical with typical specimens of Hoplitis laeviscutum from Turkey and Israel (A. Müller, unpublished). The extent of the red colour of the cuticula appears to vary much intraspecifically: specimens from Turkey, Israel and Jordan are virtually devoid of red, while some specimens from Central Asia and Pakistan have their abdomen entirely red coloured. Even among individuals flying at the same locality, there are transitions from purely black specimens to specimens with differing amounts of red, as exemplified by a series of Hoplitis rufopicta recently collected by C. Praz, C. Sedivy and A. Monfared in Iran.
The species status of Osmia (Helicosmia) labialis Pérez, 1879 is disputed. Warncke (1986) synonymized it with Osmia melanogaster Spinola, 1808, while other authors considered it as a valid species different from O. melanogaster (Tkalcu, 1975c; Rasmont et al., 1995; Amiet et al., 2004). In a sample of bees from France, two specimens of Helicosmia were recently found that had been collected at the same day and exactly the same location. One of these specimens showed all characters typical of O. labialis as given by Tkalcu (1975c), the other specimen was a typical O. melanogaster. The syntopic occurrence indicates that O. labialis indeed warrants the status of a valid species.
Osmia (Melanosmia) hyperborea Tkalcu, 1983 is a junior synonym of Osmia (Melanosmia) laticeps Thomson, 1872 (Nilsson, 2009).
Wainia (Caposmia) guichardi (Zanden, 1991) was known so far only in the male sex. On an excursion to southern Morocco in April 2009, the unknown female was discovered (A. Müller, unpublished).