Hylaeus signatus (Panzer)

Weissmann, Julie A., Picanco, Ana, Borges, Paulo A. V. & Schaefer, Hanno, 2017, Bees of the Azores: an annotated checklist (Apidae, Hymenoptera), ZooKeys 642, pp. 63-95 : 74-75

Hylaeus signatus (Panzer)

Description.

Medium-sized black bee (total length 7-9 mm in both sexes, wing length 4.5-5.5 mm in females and 4-6 mm in males) with roundish face and conspicuous yellowish-white face markings, without curved grooves (fovea) along eye margin; mandibles and legs black; white hair bands on lateral sides of tergite 1 (Fig. 6b).

Distinguishing features.

Relatively large; male with mask not exceeding insertion point of antennae (Fig. 5 c), female face pattern with the two spots larger than in Hylaeus pictipes and more triangular in outline (Fig. 5e); Reseda specialist.

General distribution.

Madeira (introduced); North Africa; Eurasia, from Portugal in the West to northern Scandinavia and Uzbekistan in the East.

Distribution in the Azores.

All islands except São Jorge.

First record.

2001 (Santa Maria; H. Schaefer, unpublished data).

Nesting.

In existing cavities (twigs, earth, abandoned nests of other hymenoptera , etc.), sometimes in dense aggregations.

Social behaviour.

Solitary bee.

Foraging.

Oligolectic, usually Reseda specialist, but in the Azores also observed on Tamarix africana ( Tamaricaceae ).

Phenology.

June-August.

Material.

Corvo (Vila do Corvo), 04.08.2014, 1 male; Graciosa, June 2012, 3 females, 7 males on Tamarix ; Terceira (airport), 08.08.2014, 1 female, 1 male; Santa Maria, 1 female, all leg. H. Schaefer, coll. TUM (B8-B20; B45).

The COI sequence of specimen H. Schaefer B12 (TUM), acc. no. KX824778, is identical to a Hylaeus signatus sequence from Germany (KJ837965, see Fig. 2).