Megachile pusilla Pérez, 1884

Balzan, Mario, Genoud, David, Rasmont, Pierre, Schwarz, Maximilian & Michez, Denis, 2017, New records of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from the Maltese Islands, Journal of Melittology 2017 (72), pp. 1-9 : 3-4

Megachile pusilla Pérez

EXAMINED SPECIMENS: 3♀♀, 1♂, Gudja , 29-v-2016, M. V. Balzan ; 1♀, Cirkewwa , 16 - iv-76, Sammut, collection NMNH, determined by C. Praz.

DISTRIBUTION: Western Mediterranean Basin, Sicily, Sardinia, and Greece. See Soltani et al. (2017) for taxonomic and biogeographic discussion.

Results obtained here confirm previous observations that the known bee fauna is dominated by widespread Palearctic species ( Balzan et al., 2016), that is species recorded from Europe, Northern Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean Basin (Appendix). All of the newly recorded species are also known from southern Europe, and have been recorded from neighbouring Sicily. These observations support those by Balzan et al. (2016) and indicate that Quaternary marine regression events connecting the Maltese archipelago to southern Europe have likely resulted in colonization of the islands by bee species. Previous records also indicate that a number of bee species have a predominantly North African affinity, although this is weaker when compared to that of neighbouring Sicily and southern Europe. The Maltese Islands were originally colonized by species from the European and African mainland during the Messinian Salinity Event. These species became isolated when the Mediterranean Basin was inundated. During the Quaternary Period, the Maltese Islands experienced several colonization episodes from Sicily during some of the marine regressions associated with Pleistocene glaciations ( Hunt & Schembri, 1999). This Quaternary colonization explains the resemblance of the Maltese biota to that of Sicily ( Schembri, 2003; Thake, 1985).