Andrena dacia WOOD, 2024, spec. nov.
Creators: name: WOOD, T. J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Andrenidae
Andrena
Andrena dacia

description: Andrena (incertae sedis) dacia spec. nov.
Figures 79A–C; E; G–H.
HOLOTYPE: ROMANIA: Ștefănești jud. Ilfov, 44.5356 oN, 26.1968 oE, 6.iv.1954, ♀, leg. X. Scobiola, OÖLM. Schwarzmeer-Kuste, Vama Veche, 1.v.1996, 3♀, leg. L. Rákosy, OÖLM/ TJWC.
PARATYPES: ROMANIA: same information as holotype, 3♀, OÖLM/ TJWC; Mogosoaia [Mogoșoaia], Ilfov, 15.iv.1954, 2♀, leg. X. Scobiola, OÖLM; Caldarusani J. Ilfov [Căldărușani by Grădiştea], 24.iii.1957, 1♀, leg. X. Scobiola, OÖLM; 30 Decembrie, Reg. Buc. [around Bucharest, exact location unclear], 15.iii.1954, 1♀, leg. X. Scobiola, OÖLM; Schwarzmeer-Kuste, Vama Veche, 1.v.1996, 3♀, leg. L. Rákosy, OÖLM/ TJWC.
Description: Female: Body length: 8–9 mm (Figure 79A). Head: Dark, 1.2 times wider than long (Figure 79C). Clypeus weakly domed, flattened over majority of its area, densely punctate laterally, punctures separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameters, medially with a broad impunctate longitudinal mid-line, as much as 7–8 puncture diameters wide; underlying surface with strong granular shagreen, weakly shining. Process of labrum trapezoidal, 3 times wider than long, surface with irregular latitudinal striations. Galea with outer surface covered with strong granular microreticulation, dull (Figure 79E). Gena slightly exceeding width of compound eye; ocelloccipital distance 1.5 times diameter of lateral ocellus. Foveae dorsally narrow, dorsally occupying ¼ of space between compound eye and lateral ocellus, slightly narrower than width of flagellum, uniformly wide, ventrally extending to slightly below level of antennal insertions; foveae filled with dark brown hairs. Face, gena, and scape covered with black hairs, vertex with mixture of black and light brown hairs (fading to whitish); hairs not equalling length of scape. Antennae dark basally, A5–12 ventrally lightened by presence of silvery scales; A3 exceeding A4+5, shorter than A4+5+6.
Mesosoma: Scutum and scutellum finely shagreened, weakly shining, sparsely and irregularly punctate, punctures separated by 0.5–4 puncture diameters, punctures sparsest medially (Figure 79B). Pronotum with strong humeral angle, surface with weak longitudinal striations. Mesepisternum and dorsolateral parts of propodeum with fine granular microreticulation, weakly shining; propodeal triangle very weakly indicated by obscure fine carinae laterally, internal surface almost structurally identical to surrounding propodeum, with weak, short, and obscure rugae basally (Figure 79G). Mesepisternum with long black hairs, longest exceeding length of scape, scutum and scutellum with shorter light brown hair (fading to whitish). Propodeal corbicula incomplete, dorsal fringe composed of black plumose hairs, internal surface with short brownish simple hairs. Legs dark.Flocculus incomplete, composed of short whitish hairs; femoral and tibial scopae composed of simple whitish hairs, tibial scopae basally with brown hairs adjacent to basitibial plate. Remaining leg pubescence brownish. Hind tarsal claws with inner tooth. Wings hyaline, stigma dark brown, venation brown-orange, nervulus postfurcal.
Metasoma: Tergal discs dark, marginal areas lightened brownish over majority of area (Figure 79H). Tergal discs finely shagreened, shining, sculpture strongest basally and laterally; surface with irregular obscure punctures, punctures separated by 0.5–2 puncture diameters. T1–4 discs laterally with short and erect light brownish hairs, on T2–4 coalescing to form weak, widely separated apical hair-fringes, not obscuring underlying surface. Apical fringe of T5 and hairs flanking pygidial plate dark brown. Pygidial plate broad, apically rounded, lateral margin slightly thickened, internal surface densely punctate, punctures separated by 0.5 puncture diameters, interspaces raised and shining.
Male: Unknown.
Diagnosis. Andrena dacia can be recognised as part of the currently undescribed subgenus best referred to as the crocusella -group (Pisanty et al. 2022a; b) due to the pronotum with clear humeral angle (in the closely related subgenus Euandrena with the pronotum rounded), the barely indicated propodeal triangle (Figure 79G), oviform metasoma (Figure 79H), and long and narrow foveae that remain a consistent width along their length (in Euandrena typically narrowing further ventrally). Andrena dacia has dark-marked terga, the head is relatively short, and the mandibular and labial palpi have a regular number of segments (six and four, respectively) that are not noticeably elongate. This places it close to A. elsei Scheuchl & Gusenleitner, 2009 (Greece *, North Macedonia *, Romania *, and Turkey) and A. ornithogali Pisanty & Wood, 2022 (Israel and Syria).
Diagnosis must also take into account biogeographical context. Only two of the 10 species within this group (Pisanty et al. 2022a) have previously been recorded from continental Europe (i.e. not including Cyprus), specifically A. grossella Grünwaldt, 1976 and A. muscaria Warncke, 1965 from Greece. Surprisingly, A. elsei, a species previously known only from the Taurus mountains of Turkey, can now be reported from south-eastern Europe including southern Romania (see below). Andrena dacia can be separated from A. elsei due to the smaller body length of 8–9 mm (A. elsei with body length of 10–11 mm), the shorter ocelloccipital distance which is 1.5 times the diameter of a lateral ocellus (in A. elsei with the ocelloccipital distance equalling 2 times the diameter of a lateral ocellus), the surface of the galea which is covered with strong granular microreticulation and dull (Figure 79E; in A. elsei with the surface of the galea finely shagreened and shining, Figure 79F), and with the clypeus with strong granular shagreen, weakly shining, covered with dense large punctures, laterally separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameters, medially with a broad impunctate longitudinal mid-line, as much as 7–8 puncture diameters wide (Figure 79C; in A. elsei with the clypeus more finely shagreened, more strongly shining, more densely and evenly punctate, punctures separated by ≤0.5 puncture diameters with exception of narrow impunctate longitudinal mid-line, no more than 3 puncture diameters wide, Figure 79D).
Differences from A. ornithogali are smaller. The male of A. ornithogali displays a unique character which is the presence of a short distinct tooth on the gena at the base of the mandible, but unfortunately the male of A. dacia is not available for comparison. However, separation of A. dacia in the female sex is still possible due to the slightly larger body size of 8–9 mm (7–7.5 mm in A. ornithogali), the comparatively narrower process of the labrum that is trapezoidal, 3 times wider than long, surface with irregular latitudinal striations (in A. ornithogali with the process of the labrum rounded rectangular, 4 times wider than long, surface polished and shining), and by the same clypeus structural character, with strong granular shagreen, weakly shining, covered with dense large punctures, laterally separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameters, medially with a broad impunctate longitudinal mid-line, as much as 7–8 puncture diameters wide (in A. ornithogali with the clypeus shagreened and dull, but more evenly punctate over its surface, punctures shallower and separated by 0.5–1 puncture diameter, with narrower impunctate longitudinal mid-line, no more than 3 puncture diameters wide). The strongly disjunct distribution (southern Romania compared to the central Levant in A. ornithogali) also aids recognition.
Remarks. Inspection of museum material unexpectedly produced many records of A. elsei from Europe, with the first country records for Greece, North Macedonia, and Romania. The Romanian specimens are particularly intriguing, as they were present in undetermined material in the Warncke collection, but they were clearly taken from the Paris museum; they are labelled as part of the Vachal collection. They were collected from the same part of southern Romania as A. dacia, presumably prior to 1911 as this is the printed date corresponding to the accession of the Vachal collection to the MNHN, since the specimens themselves are undated. Andrena elsei is associated with Crocus flowers (Iridaceae; Scheuchl & Gusenleitner 2009; label details from Greece), suggesting that new searches in southern Romania must be made in March and April on spring-flowering Crocus and potentially Ornithogalum (Asparagaceae, the host plant of A. ornithogali) in order to determine whether A. dacia and A. elsei still persist there. Visual inspection of pollen grains in the scopae of A. dacia indicate that they conform to Liliaceae s.l. (large and elongate oval shaped, Crocus pollen is spherical), and hence monocotyledon plants likely represent the pollen host for this species.
Etymology. From the Roman province of “Dacia Traiana” which roughly corresponds to the modern-day state of Romania. It is a noun in apposition.
Distribution. Southern Romania around Bucharest. Probably present also in northern Bulgaria given the records from Vame Veche which is only 1 km from the Bulgarian border.
Other material examined (Andrena elsei) GREECE: Melano [Menalon?] Mountains, 1600 m, Peloponnese, 13–19.v.1987, 6♀, leg. H. Teunissen, RMNH, on Crocus; NORTH MACEDONIA: Vardar reg., Papeliste, steppe, 130 m, 16.iv.2021, 1♀, leg. V. Bureš, TJWC; ROMANIA: Comana, Vlasca [Vlașca], 1♀, leg. A.L. Mountandon, labelled “Museum of Paris, coll. J. Vachal 1911”, OÖLM; Valachie [Wallachia], Comana, 1♀, leg.A.L. Mountandon, labelled “Museum of Paris, coll. J. Vachal 1911”, OÖLM; TURKEY: Taurus, Eskibag, 18.iv.1977, 1♀, leg. P.A.J. Ball, OÖLM (paratype).
description: Published as part of WOOD, T. J., 2024, Further revisions to the Palaearctic Andrena fauna (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), pp. 1-150 in Zootaxa 5483 (1) on pages 129-132, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5483.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/13209307