Simone Flaminio

University of Mons · Department of Zoology

Over the last decades, a sharp decline in wild pollinator abundance and diversity has emerged in the European Union and around the World (IPBES, 2016; Van der Sluijs, 2020). Responding to this challenge, the role of NATURA 2000 protected areas network is of primary importance to safeguard wild pollinators, as highlighted in the revised EU Pollinato...

Solitary bees play a crucial role in ecological systems, contributing to the pollination of crops and wild plants. All females are reproductive, and their habitat requirements include nesting sites, food resources and nesting materials. Although these activities require the ability to detect biotic and abiotic stimuli in the environment, the sensor...

Wild bee communities of Sardinia and Corsica, two Mediterranean islands, have been relatively understudied. In this article, Lasioglossum inexpectatum sp. nov., which is known exclusively in Sardinia and Corsica, is described, emphasizing the importance of ongoing research and conservation efforts to protect the unique wild bee biodiversity in the...

This study provides the first record of Lasioglossum subfasciatum (Imhoff, 1832) (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Halictidae) in the Sila National Park (Calabria, Italy), a Biosphere Reserve included in the UNESCO program. The species has been classified as endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, throughout Europe. Three specimens were found during a monitorin...

The interspecific transmission of pathogens can occur frequently in the environment. Among wild bees, the main spillover cases are caused by pathogens associated with Apis mellifera, whose colonies can act as reservoirs. Due to the limited availability of data in Italy, it is challenging to accurately assess the impact and implications of this phen...

The area sourrounding the Mediterranean basin is recognised as a major biodiversity hotspot for bees, and Italy is amongst the European countries with the highest bee species richness. Detailed knowledge of bee distribution is crucial for understanding bee biology and designing tailored conservation strategies, but is still insufficient in southern...

Italy lies at the centre of the Mediterranean basin and has a large bee fauna due to its mixture of Mediterranean and temperate habitats, and infl uences from all cardinal directions. This is true also for the genus Andrena; however, studies to date have been fragmentary, and there has been no focused critical revision of the entire fauna. Here the...

Melitta schmiedeknechti Friese 1899 is reported for the first time in Italy. The species was collected in two different localities, mainland Sicily and Lampedusa, expanding its known range. Localities and flora visited are reported and, in addition, barcoding of two specimens was carried out.

Xylocopa (Koptortosoma) aestuans (L. 1758) (Hymenoptera Apoidea), a species native to Southeast Asia, is reported for the first time in Europe, following the collection of seven individuals in Italy (Ragusa, Sicily). The barcode of COI region confirmed the identification of the specimens. Since it is not yet clear whether the species can reproduce...

Pollinators play a crucial role in ecosystems globally, ensuring the seed production of most flowering plants. They are threatened by global changes and knowledge of their distribution at the national and continental levels is needed to implement efficient conservation actions, but this knowledge is still fragmented and/or difficult to access. As a...

At a time when nature conservation has become essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of our environment, it is widely acknowledged that conservation actions must be implemented within a solid taxonomic framework. In preparation for the upcoming update of the IUCN Red List, we here update the European checklist of the wild bees (sensu the...

An essential prerequisite to safeguard pollinator species is characterisation of the multifaceted diversity of crop pollinators and identification of the drivers of pollinator community changes across biogeographical gradients. The extent to which intensive agriculture is associated with the homogenisation of biological communities at large spatial...

In recent decades, hundreds of secondary metabolites have been found in floral nectar and many studies have demonstrated that they can play various roles in modulating the behaviour of floral visitors. However, temporal variations in nectar chemistry over extended flowering seasons have never been substantiated. Moreover, the effects of nectar chem...

With its diverse range of climates and landscapes, the Middle East offers a remarkable area for the study of bee taxonomy and biogeography. In this work, a new species of pantaloon bee (Dasypoda delectabilis Ghisbain & Michez sp. nov.) is described from a single male collected in southeastern Iran. Although the new species shows affinities with the...

Pollinators are vitally important for the maintenance of ecosystems and the reproduction of most spontaneous and cultivated plants. However, in the last decades, they are suffering from an alarming decline, with the spread of pathogens and parasites being one of the main causes. Apis mellifera L. is the best-studied pollinator, and several studies...

Anthropogenic drivers of bumblebee population decline are well-established, particularly in Europe and North America. Agriculturalizsation is associated with a loss of nesting sites, habitat fragmentation, agrochemical toxicity and nutritional stress; climate change is affecting population distribution, phenology, and voltinism, among other traits....

Human-induced environmental impacts on wildlife are widespread, causing major biodiversity losses. One major threat is agricultural intensification, typically characterised by large areas of monoculture, mechanical tillage, and the use of agrochemicals. Intensification leads to the fragmentation and loss of natural habitats, native vegetation, and...

Using RADSeq approaches, we uncovered potential loci associated with 5 environmental variables (land cover and climate) in two European bumblebee species (Bombus pascuorum and B. lapidarius).

In recent years molecular techniques have been used on museum material as integrative support for classic taxonomy. This cumulative systematics approach is especially for rare or extinct specimens, and genetic analysis may be useful to discern information that is not possible to glean from live materials or morphology. To date, the extraction of DN...

Diseases contribute to the decline of pollinator populations, which may be aggravated by the interspecific transmission of honey bee pests and pathogens. Flowers increase the risk of transmission, as they expose the pollinators to infections during the foraging activity. In this study, both the prevalence and abundance of 21 honey bee pathogens (11...

Complex biotic networks of invaders and their new environments pose immense challenges for researchers aiming to predict current and future occupancy of introduced species. This might be especially true for invasive bees, as they enter novel trophic interactions. Little attention has been paid to solitary, invasive wild bees, despite their increasi...

The giant resin bee, Megachile sculpturalis (Megachilidae), is a species alien to Europe that easily adopts bee hotels in city gardens. In Italy, we are carrying out a monitoring project at CREA bee hotel. Starting in 2016, we monitored emergence and defined nest structure and pollen; estimated the number of nests completed by each female, and reco...

A new species of Trachusa Panzer 1804 is described from Vietnam: Trachusa vietnamensis sp. nov. that is assigned to subgenus Paraanthidium Friese 1898 and is the first Trachusa species found in Vietnam. The species is described from a single female specimen, so the male remains undescribed. A morphological description and a series of pictures are g...

Animal species success is linked to a combination of suitable ecological conditions coupled with behavioural plasticity. The latter is certainly a key element especially for the spread of alien species. Megachile sculpturalis is an East-Asian solitary bee accidentally introduced in France that quickly spread in many European countries. While numero...

There is increasing interest in evaluating biodiversity to preserve ecosystem services. Researchers can sustain policymakers by providing tools, such as indexes and indicators, that need constant implementation to become accepted standards. Implementation may vary from re-evaluation of existing indicators to introduction of new ones based on emergi...

Bees play a key role in natural and agro-ecosystems and their diversity is worldwide threatened by anthropogenic causes. Despite this, there is little awareness of the existence of the numerous species of wild bees, and the common name “bee” is very often exclusively associated with Apis mellifera. Our aim was to create a citizen science project in...

In Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island, 316 species of bees are known. Here, for the first time, the following 20 taxa are reported: Colletes cunicularius (Linnaeus, 1761), and C. eous Morice, 1904 (Colletidae); Andrena humilis Imhoff, 1832, A. granulosa Pérez, 1902, A. cineraria (Linnaeus, 1758), A. pallitarsis Pérez, 1903, A. rugulo...

The pollination ecology in agroecosystems tackles a landscape in which plants and pollinators need to adjust, or be adjusted, to human intervention. A valid, widely applied approach is to regard pollination as a link between specific plants and their pollinators. However, recent evidence has added landscape features for a wider ecological perspecti...

Beewatching è un progetto nato nella primavera del 2018 da una collaborazione tra alcuni entomologi del CREA (Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria) e alcuni botanici del BIGEA (Dipartimento discienze biologiche, geologiche e ambientali) dell’Università di Bologna. Il progetto nasce dalla passione per le api selv...

tacking the variables to be included in an indicator on pollinators, step by step from existing ones to missing information

Megachile disjunctiformis Cockerell 1911 (Hymenoptera Megachilidae) is recorded for the first time in Europe. After previous observations in 2011 and 2016 near Bologna, Italy, three specimens (one female and two males) were captured in three different locations of the Bologna area in 2017 and identified. The species is known from China, Japan, Taiw...