Andrena (Holandrena) variabilis Smith, 1853

Wood, Thomas J., Ismael, Halgurd R., Baiocchi, Daniele, Hamad, Mudhafar I., Bapir, Tahseen T. & Selis, Marco, 2024, A first revision of the Andrena of Iraq (Hymenoptera, Andrenidae), with the description of two new species from Iraqi Kurdistan and additional records from surrounding countries, ZooKeys 1205, pp. 267-298 : 267-298

56. Andrena (Holandrena) variabilis Smith, 1853

Andrena bakrajoensis Amin & Mawlood, 2019 , syn. nov.

Literature records.

Amin and Mawlood (2019, as A. bakrajoensis )

Remarks.

Amin and Mawlood (2019) described A. bakrajoensis from Bakrajo in Iraqi Kurdistan. They diagnosed it against A. (Simandrena) vetula Lepeletier, 1841 , but based on the description and the provided photographs it is clearly a member of the subgenus Holandrena Pérez, 1890 due to the predominantly declivous propodeum (almost without a dorsal horizontal area), strong tergal hairbands, and compact body with rounded head. Based on the long ocelloccipital distance (3 × the diameter of a lateral ocellus), it can only be a single species, A. variabilis . Andrena bakrajoensis is therefore synonymised with A. variabilis . The distribution maps of Gusenleitner and Schwarz (2002) do not positively indicate the presence of A. variabilis in Iraq, though some dots are present around the Tigris and Euphrates deltas in southern Iraq. However, A. variabilis is a widely distributed species in Turkey and Iran ( Gusenleitner and Schwarz 2002; Wood and Monfared 2022), and so its presence in Iraq is expected and demonstrated through this synonymy.