New record of a small carpenter bee, Ceratina compacta Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from India

Abstract

The biodiversity survey of small carpenter bees for two years (2014–15) in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, resulted in a new record, Ceratina (Ceratinidia) compacta Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Ceratinini) from India. Earlier, C. compacta was known from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Bangladesh; now this record in India shows the range expansion of this bee among Asian countries. Foraging and nesting resources are illustrated here with some important diagnostic characters of C. compacta. This new addition to Indian bee fauna will promote the conservationists and researchers for further study of this species in the future.

Keywords:

• Ceratina compacta
• diagnostic characters
• nesting resources
• range expansion

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to Department of Science & Technology under Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for providing the ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (INSPIRE) Fellowship to Manish Kumar Yogi during research period.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.