Andrena (Melandrena) assimilis (Radoszkowski, 1876)

Vertommen, Win, Vanormelingen, Pieter, D’Haeseleer, Jens, Wood, Thomas J., Baugnée, Jean-Yves, Blanck, Tim De, Grave, David De, Rycke, Samuel De, Deschepper, Chantal, Devalez, Jelle, Feys, Simon, Foubert, Olivier, Jacobs, Maarten, Janssen, Kobe, Legrain, Benjamin, Molenberg, Jean-Marc, Pauly, Alain, Pasau, Bernard, Reynaerts, Annie, Verheyen, Stefan, Wallays, Henk, Wielandts, Maarten & Vereecken, Nicolas J., 2024, New and confirmed wild bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes) for the fauna of Belgium, with notes on the rediscovery of regionally extinct species, Belgian Journal of Entomology 149, pp. 1-64 : 41-42

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16958242
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:387AD02A-54C0-4D7E-BF1F-FA0F748217F7
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/1B4187C4-FFC8-FFCA-FB98-FAB3FC6A9BE7
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Andrena (Melandrena) assimilis (Radoszkowski, 1876)
status

Treatment

Andrena (Melandrena) assimilis (Radoszkowski, 1876) View in CoL

Figs 2 View Fig , 9 C View Fig

SHORT DESCRIPTION: A large Andrena (12 - 16 mm) which only resembles A. nitida (Müller, 1776) in Belgium. Females can be distinguished by the color of the scopa which is entirely black for A. assimilis and partly black, partly white for A. nitida . The thorax is brown with pale hairs on the side. Most importantly, the first tergite has only obscure and scattered punctuation, whereas the punctuation is strong and dense in A. nitida . The species is bivoltine, with a first generation in April-May and a second generation in July-August ( SCHEUCHL, 2006).

DISTRIBUTION IN EUROPE: Including the taxon A. gallica (Schmiedeknecht, 1883) ( WOOD & MONFARED, 2022; MOTYKA, 2016), spread across Europe to Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, and Central Asia, with populations in Morocco and Algeria ( SCHEUCHL & WILLNER, 2016). No records from the Netherlands ( REEMER, 2018; www.waarneming.nl), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ( HERRERA MESÍAS & WEIGAND, 2021) or the United Kingdom ( ELSE & EDWARDS, 2018), but present in France and Germany ( GUSENLEITNER & SCHWARZ, 2002).

EU RED LIST STATUS: Data deficient (DD) ( NIETO et al., 2014), though A. gallica was assessed as Near Threatened (NT). Reassessment is needed given the conspecificity of these two taxa.

ORIGIN OF RECORDS:

- FLEMISH BRABANT PROVINCE. Meise ; 1♀; 2.viii.2020; leg./coll. O. Foubert; det. T. J. Wood - Fig. 9 C View Fig .

COMMENTS:

- This species was confirmed for Belgium in WOOD (2023).