Sphecodes rubicundus Hagens, 1875

Bogusch, Petr & Straka, Jakub, 2012, Review and identification of the cuckoo bees of central Europe (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Sphecodes), Zootaxa 3311, pp. 1-41 : 17

Sphecodes rubicundus Hagens, 1875

Described as: Sphecodes rubicundus Hagens, 1875: 318 .

Synonym: Sphecodes rubicundus altisilesiacus Torka, 1926: 126 –127.

Distribution. Europe north to 56° N, England, eastern to Ural and Armenia. Present in Turkey ( Westrich 1989, Warncke 1992).

Biology. Very rare species. Older findings are from open habitats: usually sandy sites, sanddunes and steppes. Sowa & Mostowska (1978) described the biology of Andrena labialis (Kirby) and confirmed it as a host of this species. Blüthgen (1934) also put A. labialis as confirmed and A. nigroaenea (Kirby) as likely host of S. rubicundus . Torka (1925) brought data on possible parasitization in nests of A. agilissima (Scopoli) . Currently, the mentioned hosts occur mostly in different biotopes from the cleptoparasite.