Subspecies villosulum

Synonymy

Melitta villosula Kirby, 1802: 62 .

Type: 1 ♂, England (NHMUK013380582), male lectotype designated by Ebmer 1988: 649. Examined by DGN (Fig. 6) .

Melitta punctulata Kirby, 1802: 66 . Type: 1 ♀, England, [Kent] Barham (NHMUK013380583). Syn. by Dalla Torre 1896: 90. The holotype examined by DGN (Fig. 7), is a typical L. villosulum villosulum, small size, large sparse punctures, etc. It does not agree with the pseudocryptic species.

Halictus hirtellus Schenck, 1869: 311 . Type: 1 ♀, Germany, Elberfeld near Letmathe an der Lenne, leg. Cornelius (SMF), lectotype designated by Ebmer 1975: 244; syn. by Blüthgen 1920: 278, 1930: 743. Examined by AP (Fig. 5).

Halictus pauperatulellus Strand, 1909: 44 . Holotype: ♂, Algeria, Blidah-Médéah, Jul.–Aug. 1884, leg. Quedenfeldt (MNHUB). Syn. by Blüthgen 1922: 318. Examined by AP (Fig. 8).

Halictus barkensis Blüthgen, 1930: 224 . Types: “ 1 ♀, 1 ♂ ”, Libya, Bengasi, 20 Aug. 1924, coll. Blüthgen (MNHUB), not examined.

Halictus villosulus perlautus Cockerell, 1938a: 82 . Holotype: 1 ♂, Morocco, Asni, Aug. 1930, leg. Cockerell (NHMUK013380275). Syn. by Warncke 1973: 290. Examined by DGN.

Halictus rufotegularis Cockerell, 1938b: 7 . Holotype: 1 ♀, Morocco, Ifrane, 27 Aug. 1930, leg. Alice Mackie (AMNH). Syn. by Ebmer 1976: 253 (21 March) and Warncke 1976: 95 (15 October). Examined by AP (Fig. 9).

Halictus villiersi Benoist, 1941: 80 . Holotype: ♀, Morocco, Djebel Tachdirt, 2500 m, 15–31 Aug. (MNHN). Syn. by Warncke 1973: 290. Examined by AP (Fig. 10).

Remarks

Halictus hirtellus

The type of Halictus hirtellus Schenck, 1869, was examined by Blüthgen (1920: 278). Blüthgen (1930: 743) also mentions our pseudocryptic species as a form needing more research and he specifies that it is not Halictus hirtellus (“die nicht etwa hirtellus Schck ist”). Ebmer (1975) designated a lectotype from Letmathe an der Lenne (51°22′ N, 7°36′ E), a locality in Germany, that is out of the distribution of the new sub-Mediterranean pseudocryptic species L. medinai (the specimen from Germany in the cluster of L. medinai comes from a locality further south: Baden-Württemberg, Müllheim, 47°49′ N, 7°37′ E).

Halictus barkensis

Blüthgen described this species as close to L. villosulum, but with a longer head. Ebmer (1974: 188; 1976: 253) considered L. barkense as a valid species occurring in Morocco (Grand Atlas), Libya, Israel and Turkey, but Warncke (1976: 94), Ebmer (1988: 649) and Pesenko (2007a: 41) considered it a synonym of L. villosulum .

Halictus villiersi

The type of H. villiersi is relatively small (6 mm), the punctation of the scutum is relatively dense and the propodeum is relatively well wrinkled. Ebmer (1974: 188; 1976: 253) considered L. villiersi as a synonym of L. barkense (Blüthgen, 1930) but Ebmer (1988: 649) reassessed it as a synonym of L. villosulum .

Distribution

Distribution (the asterisk * means that identification of specimens from that country has been confirmed in the current study): This subspecies is distributed throughout the western Palaearctic. Described from the United Kingdom, it is known from the Azores* (Weismann et al. 2017: 82), Madeira (Fellendorf et al. 1999: 4), Canary Islands (Warncke 1975b: 205), Spain * (including the Balearics*) (Ortiz-Sanchez & Pauly 2017: 40), France * (including Corsica) (Pauly & Belval 2017: 27), Belgium *, The Netherlands *, Luxemburg *, Germany *, Denmark (Rasmussen et al. 2016: 47), Norway *, Sweden (Svensson et al. 1990: 50), Finland * (north to 64° N), Ireland *, Switzerland (Amiet et al. 2001: 150), Italy * (including Sardinia), Austria (Ebmer 1988: 649), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Pridal 2004: 40), Poland (Pesenko et al. 2000: 291), Slovenia (Gogala 1999: 19), Serbia *, Croatia *, Romania (Goaga 2003: 193), Bulgaria *, Greece * (including Crete *), Ukraine, Turkey (Warncke 1975a: 91), Israel * (Bytinsky-Salz & Ebmer 1974: 188), Russia (Levchenko 2015: 17), Udmurtia (Pesenko 2007b: 113), Iran (Ebmer 1978c: 76), Afghanistan (Ebmer 1974: 200), India (Himashal Pradesh; Ebmer 2004: 131), Nepal (Ebmer 2004: 131), Morocco * (Ebmer, 1976: 253), Algeria *, Tunisia *, Libya (Blüthgen 1930: 224), Egypt (Blüthgen 1933: 19), Yemen * (Sanaa, Jebel Jaïf). The subspecies occurs also in North America where it has been barcoded from Canada (British Columbia *) and USA (Washington State *) (Gibbs, pers. comm.).