Trachusa (Paraanthidium) varia (Olivier, 1789)

Risch, Stephan, Roberts, Stuart P. M., Smit, Jan, Wood, Thomas J., Michez, Denis & Reverté, Sara, 2023, The new annotated checklist of the wild bees of Europe (Hymenoptera: Anthophila), Zootaxa 5327 (1), pp. 1-147 : 60

Trachusa (Paraanthidium) varia (Olivier, 1789)

( Fig. 14B )

The species was described from “ Spain ” by Fabricius as Apis rufipes Fabricius, 1787 nec Fabricius, 1781 (note that Apis varia Olivier is a replacement name) and has not been found again in Europe since then. It cannot be ruled out that the material actually came from northern Africa, for instance from Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco ( Kasparek 2020b). We keep the species in the present checklist, but surveys further confirming the presence of the species in Europe would be welcome.

Species recorded in Europe after 2017

Figures

FIGURE 14. A. Trachusa balcanica Kasparek, 2018 male, habitus in dorsal view. This species was recently described by Kasparek (2018) from Bulgaria. It is also recorded from Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia and Serbia. B. Trachusa varia (Oliver, 1789) female, habitus in dorsal view. This species was originally described from Spain but has not been found in Europe for more than 200 years. It is possible that the holotype was caught in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco. Pictures by Max Kasparek.