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Hawk's-beard Nomad Bee, Nomada facilis, new to Britain (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Abstract and Figures
Hawk’s-beard Nomad Bee, Nomada facilis Schwarz, is recorded as new to Britain. Morphological characters are given to establish its identity and DNA sequencing was used to independently confirm the identification. An illustrated key to the Nomada integra species group in Britain is provided. Based on limited material found in the Natural History Museum, London and Oxford University Museum of Natural History collections N. facilis is a very rare and declining native species in Britain. Its bionomics are reviewed and some original observations are made indicating Andrena fulvago (Christ) is the host in Britain.
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... Obtaining accurate taxonomic and distribution information on bees is crucial for the conservation and monitoring of native pollinators. However, new species are regularly uncovered even in regions with a long tradition in taxonomy such as northern and central Europe, following changes in taxonomy (e. g., Straka and Bogusch 2011;Pauly et al. 2019;Le Divelec 2020;Litman et al. 2021), the discovery of hitherto undetected taxa due to challenging identifications (e. g., Notton and Norman 2017;Falk et al. 2019), inventories in poorly sampled habitats (Johansson and Paukkunen 2017;Schmid-Egger et al. 2021), range expansions (Notton et al. 2016;Saure and Petrischak 2020), or the description of new species (e. g., Pauly et al. 2015;Praz et al. 2019). These recent updates in northern or central European countries, characterised by well-known faunas that are studied by numerous active bee specialists, give a worrisome hint at the huge taxonomic work necessary in southern European countries, which have rich but poorly investigated bee faunas. ...
Using a combination of DNA barcodes and morphology, we examine species boundaries in bees of the genus Andrena subgenus Taeniandrena in Europe. First, we solve the long controversy surrounding the status of Andrena ovatula (Kirby, 1802) and A. albofasciata Thomson, 1870, proposed to represent distinct species nearly 100 years ago, but mostly treated as conspecific in recent studies. Our results unambigu-ously support the presence of two taxa that are often found in sympatry: the first taxon, referred to as A. ovatula, is present in Northern Europe but also in Southern Europe along the Mediterranean coast; the second taxon is referred to as A. afzeliella (Kirby, 1802), stat. rev., with A. albofasciata considered to be a junior synonym (syn. nov.), and is widely distributed in Europe. Second, we show that another widely distributed species has hitherto been overlooked in Europe: A. ovata Schenck, 1853, stat. rev. Third, we demonstrate that two taxa currently treated as subspecies should be given specific rank due to significant morphological and genetic differences: A. croceiventris Morawitz, 1871, stat. rev., so far treated as a sub-species of A. similis Smith, 1849, and A. vocifera Warncke, 1975, stat. nov., so far treated as a subspecies of A. gelriae van der Vecht, 1927. Both A. croceiventris and A. vocifera have particularly restricted ranges in Europe, being known only from central to southern Italy and Sicily, and continental France, respectively. Fourth, we describe a new species from Sardinia and Corsica, A. antonellae sp. nov. Lastly, the following new synonymies are proposed: A. similis, A. ocreata cyprisina Warncke, 1975 and A. similis caraimica Osytshnjuk, 1994 are placed in synonymy with A. russula Lepeletier, 1841 (syn. nov.); A. fuscata (Kirby, 1802), A. canescens Schenck, 1853 and A. pseudovatula Alfken, 1926 are placed in synonymy with A. afzeliella (syn. nov.). Lectotypes are designated for A. afzeliella, A. fuscata (Kirby, 1802), A. ovata and A. wilkella (Kirby, 1802). Our results suggest a particularly fast diversification in this group of bees, leading to the presence of numerous species exhibiting particularly restricted geographic ranges. We discuss the implications for conservation of this astonishing cryptic diversity in European bees.
... Two further scarce species that lack current rarity grades because they were added to the British list relatively recently are the nomad bee Nomada facilis and the hunting wasp Crossocerus congener. The former is not a recent colonist but had been overlooked within the very similar taxa N. integra (Notton & Norman, 2017). The latter is a tiny wasp first discovered in 1999 (Early & Uffen, 2008). ...
The report summarises four years of monitoring and surveying pollinators at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, a research wood owned and managed by the University of Oxford. The full data (in spreadsheet format) from active surveying and pan-trapping has been appended as supplementary data. More background to the project can be obtained from the Wytham Woods web page https://www.wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk/pollinator-monitoring.
Ants are continually introduced into regions outside of their natural biogeographic ranges via global trade. The genus Strumigenys Smith 1860 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) are minute predators with a growing history of global introductions, although tropical introductions into temperate zones are rarely able to establish outside of heated infrastructures. We report the first record of the Australasian Strumigenys perplexa (Smith 1876) to Europe and the British Isles from four sites on Guernsey, Channel Islands. This novel discovery
is likely attributable to the species wide climatic and habitat tolerances, enabling the species to establish away from its natural range in Australasia and from heated-infrastructure. A key to the West Palaearctic Strumigenys species is provided alongside a preliminary and critical checklist of ant species recorded from the Channel Island archipelago, listing 32 species.
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