Pseudapis (Nomiapis) monstrosa (Costa, 1861)

Wood, Thomas James, Cross, Ian & Baldock, David W., 2020, Updates to the bee fauna of Portugal with the description of three new Iberian Andrena species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), Zootaxa 4790 (2), pp. 201-228 : 221-222

Pseudapis (Nomiapis) monstrosa (Costa, 1861)

Distribution: Primarily Eastern Mediterranean into the Near East with a few records from Spain and Portugal (Warncke 1976; Pauly 2015).

Notes: The taxonomic state of Pseudapis has been greatly confused ( Baker 2002). Whilst the shape and structure of the male legs is often diagnostic for species delimitation, females can be challenging to separate morphologically. Pseudapis monstrosa is a species primarily from the Eastern Mediterranean with a few records for Spain (Warncke 1976; Van der Zanden 1997). However, the sex of this material was either unspecified (Warncke 1976) or female ( Van der Zanden 1997). In Portugal, all identifications of P. monstrosa were based on the female sex, as seemingly none of the highly distinctive males could be found at nesting sites ( Baldock et al. 2018). Instead, only the clearly different P. bispinosa (Brullé, 1832) males were collected in these areas. This suspicious lack of P. monstrosa males led to the re-examination of Portuguese Pseudapis material.

Two subspecies of P. bispinosa have been described. The subspecies combination of Pseudapis bispinosa albocincta (Lucas, 1849) was proposed by Warncke (1976, erroneously under Nomia unidentata Olivier, 1811 , see Baker 2002). Females of P. b. albocincta have a scutum that is much more densely punctate than P. b. bispinosa (Warncke 1976, Pauly 2015). Males are of the two subspecies are very similar, and it is beyond the scope of this paper to resolve this current taxonomic situation.

For the records reported by Baldock et al. (2018) that we have been able to double check, records previously report- ed as P. bispinosa refer to P. b. albocincta, and records previously reported as P. monstrosa refer to P. b. bispinosa . Pseudapis b. albocincta is therefore widespread throughout Portugal in a wide range of habitats, but P. b. bispinosa is seemingly restricted to saline soils on the southern coast of the Algarve at Pêra and Mexilhoeira Grande. This association was also found in central Spain at Rivas-Vaciamadrid (40.3217, -3.5633, 21.vii.2019, 2♂, 4♀, leg. Wood, TJW Colln.) where P. b. bispinosa was nesting in saline soils hosting the similarly halophilous sea-lavender Limonium . More work is needed to establish the consistency of this habitat association, and on the taxonomic status of the two subspecies of P. bispinosa .

On this basis, P. monstrosa is removed from the Portuguese list. The presence of P. monstrosa in Spain must be confirmed, since it is not clear if any identifications have been made from male material and may therefore all be incorrect (Warncke 1976; Van der Zanden 1997; examined USDA-ARS material listed on GBIF). Inspection of the Warncke Collection found only one female P. monstrosa specimen from Spain labelled ‘Madrid’ (no date). This specimen was determined as P. monstrosa but was clearly P. bispinosa albocincta and moreover did not agree with other Warncke determinations of P. monstrosa from the Eastern Mediterranean. No specimen from Granada (Warncke, 1976) could be found. It remains to be confirmed if any valid male records of true P. monstrosa exist in Iberia, and for now its presence in the Western Mediterranean is considered doubtful.

Material examined: Pseudapis bispinosa bispinosa : PORTUGAL: Mexilhoeira Grande , 15.vii–19.viii.2015, 1♂, 2♀, det. Wood, leg. J. D’Haeseleer [all Portugese material previously determined as Pseudapis monstrosa ] ; SPAIN: Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Camino de Uclés , 21.vii.2019, 2♂, 4♀, det. & leg. Wood); Pseudapis bispinosa albocincta : PORTUGAL: Sesimbra, Santana, R. Vasco Santana , 4.viii.2019, 1♀, det. & leg. Wood ; SPAIN: Segovia, Camino Natural Via Verde Valle del Eresma , 18.vii.2019, 1♀, det. & leg. Wood; Madrid, (no date), 1♀, leg. Mercet, OÖLM [previously determined as Nomia monstrosa by K. Warncke]; Pseudapis monstrosa : BULGARIA: Sandanski, 20.vii.1966, 1♀, leg. Kocourek, det. A. Pauly, OÖLM; Sandanski , 24.vi.1978, 1♀, leg. Z. Pédr, det. A. Pauly, OÖLM ; MONTENEGRO: Uleinj , 15–20.vii.1967, 1♀, leg. Z. Pédr, det. A. Pauly, OÖLM; Pseudapis valga (Gerstäcker, 1872) : SPAIN: Zaragoza, 30 km E, 16.vi.1974, 1♂, leg. P.F. Torchio & E. Ase, USDA-ARS collection at Utah State University , BBSL740380 [previously determined as Pseudapis monstrosa ] .