Colletes seitzi ALFKEN , 1900

Colletes seitzi ALFKEN, 1900 View in CoL

The taxonomic status of C. seitzi was confused for a long time (see also comment under C. alini ). The taxonomic and nomenclatural history of the species was explored in detail by KUHLMANN (1999, 2000) and is therefore only briefly summarised here. After the description of C. seitzi (based on a single female from Yokohama; ALFKEN 1900), NOSKIEWICZ (1936) assumed that the species also occurred outside Japan in China and Mongolia. Based on continental specimens he described the male of " C. seitzi " which later turned out to be a closely related new species known today as C. alini ( KUHLMANN 1999, 2000). Colletes seitzi was only recently rediscovered in Japan based on specimens (males and females) collected since 2011 in the vicinity of Yokohama ( IKUDOME & SUDA 2024). On the basis of these specimens, the male of C. seitzi can now be described here for the first time.

Colletes seitzi View in CoL is endemic to Japan with an unusually small distribution range. So far it has been found only in the Kantô region (Kanagawa and Chiba Prefectures) of Honshu, a large plain that is isolated by mountainous regions from neighbouring populations of C. esakii View in CoL . According to current knowledge, the distribution areas of both species do not overlap (details of records and distribution maps in IKUDOME 1989 and IKUDOME & SUDA 2024). Based on observations of six females and five males, adults are active for about four weeks, from mid-July to early August ( IKUDOME & SUDA 2024). For C. seitzi View in CoL only a single flower visitation record on Trifolium repens LINN. View in CoL ( Fabaceae View in CoL ) is documented ( IKUDOME & SUDA 2024) but no information is available on the nesting biology.