Andrena (Trachandrena) rehni Viereck, 1907

Andrena (Trachandrena) rehni Viereck, 1907 View in CoL

Rehn’s Miner

Notes: Viereck et al. (1916) reported this species as having a probable presence in Connecticut, and Mitchell

(1960) reported its presence in Connecticut without details, perhaps just following Viereck’s report. Three females of this uncommon species were captured on 1 July 2019 on the flowers of Castanea spp. at the CAES experimental farm in Hamden (New Haven County) in a chestnut orchard whose trees date back to 1939. Subsequent searches in 2021 in the same location have detected more individuals (T. A. Zarrillo unpublished) in June and July. A single female was also detected in Old Lyme (New London County) at the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center in 2021. LaBerge (1973) states that this species has been collected most frequently from the flowers of Ceanothus sp. , but Castanea pumila is also listed as a floral record. In Connecticut, Andrena rehni visits the blossoms of both chestnut and chinquapin: C. pumila , C. ozarkensis , C. dentata , C. henryi , C. mollissima , C. sativa , C. crenata , C. dentata x ( C. pumila x C. crenata ), and C. seguinii x C. seguinii . The distribution and host specific information for this historically under-recorded bee species is currently under investigation regionally. There is an unverified historical record in BISON from 21 April 1895 deposited at the Snow Entomological Museum Collection. However, Mitchell (1960) reported the flight period for this species to be May through July, and the bloom period in Connecticut for Castanea and Ceanothus occurs in June and July. Therefore, we are excluding this phenologically anomalous record until it can be verified.