Andrena laurivora Warncke 1974
Creators: name: Wood, Thomas J.
name: Ghisbain, Guillaume
name: Michez, Denis
name: Praz, Christophe J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Andrenidae
Andrena

description: Andrena (incertae sedis) laurivora Warncke, 1974
Figs 101–108
Material examined
Holotype MOROCCO • 1 ♂; Marraquesh; Mar. 1907; Escalera leg.; OÖLM (illustrated Fig. 86).
Paratype MOROCCO • 1 ♀; Marraquesh; Mar. 1907; Escalera leg.; OÖLM.
Other material
MOROCCO • 1 ♀; Massa-Tiznit; 26 Mar. 1988; V. Lefeber leg.; NMNL • 2 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; Tamri, 70 km N of Agadir; 8 May 1995; Ma. Halada leg.; MSC • 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as for preceding; OÖLM (illustrated Figs 106, 108) • 1 ♀; 20 km W of Boudnib; 9 Apr. 1995; Ma. Halada leg.; OÖLM (illustrated Figs 102, 104).
SPAIN • 1 ♂, 1 ♀; Sevilla, Los Pinares de Aznalcazar; 13 Mar. 2012; I. Cross leg.; ICC (illustrated Figs 105, 107) • 2 ♀♀; Huelva, Hinojos; 15 Mar. 2012; I. Cross leg.; Reseda phyteuma; ICC • 1 ♀; same collection data as for preceding; TJWC (illustrated Figs 101, 103).
Remarks
Material from southwestern Spain closely resembles Moroccan specimens, but are generally less hirsute, particularly in the single male Spanish specimen, although this may be simply due to the condition of the individual specimen (Figs 101–108). Structurally, there are no clear differences, and so they are considered to be conspecific. The pronouncedly Atlantic distribution of Morocco and southwestern Iberia is not unprecedented in bees, as the extremely rare Lasioglossum musculoides Ebmer, 1974 has a global distribution of the Souss Valley in southwestern Morocco and southwestern Portugal (Pauly 2015). Coastal areas of Huelva and Sevilla continue to produce records of range-restricted species thought to be endemic elsewhere, such as Flavipanurgus fuzetus Patiny, 1999 which was discovered there in 2018 (Cross & Wood 2018).
Pollen loads taken from three specimens at a single Moroccan locality contained pure Reseda - type (Resedaceae Martinov) pollen (Table 2), so the floral observation data from Spain is consistent with this picture. Comparisons with other species are complicated because the former subgenus Poliandrena Warncke, 1968 in which it was placed (Warncke 1974) has been found to be strongly polyphyletic, and Poliandrena in a strict sense is now a synonym of the subgenus Ulandrena Warncke, 1968 (Pisanty et al. 2021). Excluding A. polita Smith, 1847 (now subgenus Ulandrena) and A. florea Fabricius, 1793 (the placement of this species necessitates the erection of a new subgenus) which clearly belong elsewhere (Pisanty et al. 2021), other members of the old concept of Poliandrena that can be found in Spain for which pollen data are available are predominantly associated with Reseda L., with the exception of A. farinosa Pérez, 1895 which is likely a specialist of Fabaceae (Table 2). These taxa fall into at least two clades (Pisanty et al. 2021), and so work is needed to establish their true subgeneric affinities in addition to their dietary choices.
Distribution
Previously thought to be endemic to Morocco, now also including Spain (Warncke 1974; Lhomme et al. 2020).
description: Published as part of Wood, Thomas J., Ghisbain, Guillaume, Michez, Denis & Praz, Christophe J., 2021, Revisions to the faunas of Andrena of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco with the descriptions of four new species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), pp. 147-193 in European Journal of Taxonomy 758 on pages 185-187, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2021.758.1431, http://zenodo.org/record/5101636