Andrena (Pallandrena) braunsiana Friese, 1887

Wood, Thomas James, Praz, Christophe, Selis, Marco, Flaminio, Simone, Mei, Maurizio, Cornalba, Maurizio, Rosa, Paolo, Divelec, Romain Le & Michez, Denis, 2023, Revisions to the Andrena fauna of Italy, with the description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), Fragmenta entomologica 55 (2), pp. 271-310 : 282

Andrena (Pallandrena) braunsiana Friese, 1887

Andrena braunsiana Friese, 1887: 22 , ♀ ♂ [SMFD: Hungary, male lectotype by current designation, illustrated Fig. 6 ]

Andrena oblita Warncke, 1967: 246 , ♀ ♂ [OÖLM: Italy, holotype female examined] syn. nov.

Andrena braunsiana ssp. detorta Warncke, 1975a: 36 , ♀ ♂ [OÖLM: Turkey, holotype female examined]

Remarks. Warncke (1967) described Andrena oblita from two females (one holotype female) from southern Italy (Calabria) and two males from Tunisia. In an unpublished work, Grünwaldt (see Wood et al. 2020b) found that the males were conspecific with A. (Pallandrena) byrsicola Schmiedeknecht, 1900 which was described from Tunisia. Indeed, the two males were collected by Schmiedeknecht, but not labelled as A. byrsicola . The identity of the female specimens of A. oblita from Italy (one of which is the holotype) has remained unclear.

Examination of new material collected from northern Italy revealed the presence of A. braunsiana , a species previously thought to have a western limit in the Pannonian Basin and mainland Greece ( Gusenleitner & Schwarz 2002). In this light, re-examination of the female material of A. oblita confirms its conspecificity with A. braunsiana , and it is here synonymised syn. nov. with it. Interestingly, the type material of Friese and many of the more recently collected A. braunsiana specimens from northern Italy were found on Linum ( Linaceae ; Fig. 6A ). No Andrena species are currently known that collect meaningful quantities of pollen from Linum ; this intriguing floral association should be further investigated.

Gusenleitner & Schwarz (2002) list the type depository of A. braunsiana as either the SMFD or the ZMHB. Examination of these collections shows that syntypic material is present in both institutions. A male from the SMFD collection is selected as a lectotype, by present designation ( Fig. 6 ) .

Figures

Fig. 6 - Andrena braunsiana Friese, 1887, lectotype male. A, label details; B, profile; C, face, frontal view; D, terga, dorsal view.