Status of H. gazagnairei in Europe

Hylaeus gazagnairei is mentioned for the first time in the European context by Dathe (1980) who specified that the presence of this species in Europe was unclear but expected in its Mediterranean parts. It is definitively reported from Europe in southern Spain by Ortiz-Sánchez et al. (2002) without more detail. The species has been subsequently included in the keys to Iberian Hylaeus (Ornosa & Ortiz-Sánchez 2004, Ortiz-Sánchez et al. 2003) following Dathe (1980). However, none of the keys previously mentioned provide an unambiguous species concept for H.gazagnairei . For the female, the main characters provided concern the colour, i.e. black face and red legs, when the colour is highly variable with many females having light marks on the face. As for the male, its morphological similarity with the males of the garrulus species group made its identification difficult at a time when no clear diagnosis of the garrulus group was available. For these reasons, its presence in Europe remained doubtful despite the Spanish record. The original record has only been detailed by Ornosa & Ortiz-Sánchez (2004) and, after examination, the associated specimen turned out to be a specimen of H. teruelus . After examining a substantial material of Hylaeus from the Mediterranean, and more particularly from Spain and Sicily, no true H. gazagnairei were found. Consequently, we consider that this species does not occur in Europe. According to the material we examined (178♀ 70♂, including type material; Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia; see supplementary material), Hylaeus gazagnairei seems to be restricted to the Maghreb where it is a common species ranging from Morocco to Libya.