Anthophora (Caranthophora) pubescens

Abstract

1.Anthophora(Caranthophora)pubescens(Fabricius, 1781) Apis pubescens Fabricius, 1781: 484, sex not specified but ♀ [Italy, NHMD, examined by photograph]. ? Apis liturata Gmelin, 1790: 2789, sex not specified [Europe,? type lost]. Anthophora flabellifera Lepeletier, 1841: 40, ♂ [Algeria, MNHN, not examined]. Material examined. Italy • 1 ♀; NHMD, 1787637 (holotype); Greece • 1 ♂; Kreta, Paleochora, 130 km WSW Heraklion; 3 Apr. 1979; Hohmann leg.; P. Westrich det. 1992; SMNS. See Suppl. material 1. Notes. Anthophora pubescens was described from Italy (collection D. Allioni). Zimsen (1964: 421) indicated a single specimen in Fabricius’ collection, with the bees now stored in the NHMD; a single female specimen bearing a Fabrician label remains there today (Fig. 1). This specimen was treated as the holotype by Baker and Brooks in 1978 and 1983, respectively (Fig. 1 A), and it conforms to the classical concept of the species. The synonymy for two names given in the chresonomy of Brooks is not clear, these being Apis grisea Christ, 1791 and Anthophora flabellipes Lichenstein, 1871 [sic]. Brooks (1988: 571) listed Apis grisea Christ as a junior synonym of A. pubescens, but Warncke (1986: 100) instead listed Apis grisea Christ as i) preoccupied by Apis grisea Gmelin, 1790 (Gmelin 1790: 2785) and ii) as a junior synonym of Bombus subterraneus (Linnaeus, 1758). Warncke’s position is more strongly justified, as Christ (1791: 130) described this taxon in the trinomial A. [pis] bomb. [us] grisea, clearly linking the taxon with a bumble bee. Brooks also listed Anthophora flabellipes Lichenstein recte Lichtenstein as a junior synonym. This however is incorrect, and derives from Dalla Torre (1896: 283) who listed Anthophora flabellipes Lichtenstein, 1871 under Podalirius pubescens (Fabricius). This relates to a communication by Jules Lichtenstein (1871) in the entomological bulletin between pages LXXVI and LXXIX. In this, Lichtenstein notes: “ … sont ceux d’une grosse espèce d’ Anthophora. Elle est espagnole et se rapproche beaucoup de l’ A. flabellipes de Lepeletier ” [… there is a large species of Spanish Anthophora that closely resembles Lepeletier’s A. flabellipes]. In this context, it is clear that this is simply an incorrect subsequent spelling, and no new name was created; the listing by Dalla Torre entered the European literature as if it were a specific name (e. g. Friese 1897: 142), but no-one seems to have actually checked the original work to see if the name was validly created. Distribution. North-western Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), Europe east to Ukraine, Russia (European part), Bulgaria, and is newly reported for Greece * (Fig. 2; Fabricius 1781; Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau 1841; Friese 1897; Levchenko et al. 2017; Reverté et al. 2023). Not yet recorded from Turkey, though based on southern Bulgarian records it should be present at least in European Turkey.

Authors 1

1. Thomas James Wood corresponding Aachen Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR, Leiden, The Netherlands