Colletes nanus, Friese, 1898

Kuhlmann, Michael, Schmid, Christian & Wolf-H, 2023, Three new Colletes species from Iran (Hymenoptera, Colletidae), Linzer biologische Beiträge 55 (1), pp. 37-45 : 41

Colletes nanus species-group

The new species described below belongs to the C. nanus species-group that is particularly speciose in deserts and semi-deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. It is here diagnosed and compared to its relatives in Western Asia that also have a large roundish male S7: C. arztbergi KUHLMANN , C. fuscicornis NOSKIEWICZ , C. nanaeformis NOSKIEWICZ and C. schwarzi KUHLMANN. In these species males are very similar in outer morphology and differences are mostly subtle. Thus, the focus is here on the terminalia.