Description of a remarkable new Andrena species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) from Syria

Abstract

As part of an ongoing revision of the Andrena fauna of Syria, a remarkable new species Andrena (incertae sedis) antilibanotica sp. n. was discovered in material collected from the arid Anti-Lebanon mountain chain in southern Syria. It has a combination of characters that defy current subgeneric conventions, but can be broadly placed close to the Cryptandrena due to its overall similarity to other Middle Eastern Cryptandrena taxa A. aruana Warncke, 1967 and A. monacha Warncke, 1965.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:88D5EAA7-9154-4743-BD5A-588E44D4D629

Keywords:

• Levant
• endemic species
• solitary bees
• taxonomy
• alpine
• Cryptandrena

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Fritz Gusenleitner, Esther Ockermüller, and Martin Schwarz for access to the Warncke Collection, hospitality at Linz, and loan of material, and also to Dr. Max Kasparek and an anonymous reviewer whose comments greatly improved the manuscript.