Andrena gelriae van der Vecht, 1927

Figs 13, 23, 39, 49, 70

Andrena gelriae van der Vecht, 1927: 87, ♀ ♂, „Putten“ [Holland]. Syntypes (RMNH).

Andrena gelriae karelica Niemelä, 1949: 114, ♀ ♂, [Finland].

Material examined

(Suppl. material 2: Table S2). Belgium • ♂; [almost illegible]?Gistoux; [50.6835°N, 4.6943°E]; 29.6.1931; leg. A. Crèvecoeur (RBINS) • ♂; Bossut-Gott [Bossut-Gottechain]; [50.7607°N, 4.6912°E]; 18.8.1927; leg. P. Maréchal (RBINS) • ♂; Chaudfont[aine]; [50.5851°N, 5.6397°E]; 4.7.1943; leg. P. Maréchal (RBINS).

France • ♂; Avignon; [43.908°N, 4.878°E]; 11.5.2012; leg. N.-J. Vereecken; unique identifier: scwe057 (DGC) • ♀; Rouffach; [47.959°N, 7.298°E]; 18.6.1992; leg. F. Amiet; unique identifier: GBIFCH00117688 (NMBE) [DNA extraction number 1223] • ♀; Rouffach; [47.959°N, 7.298°E]; 18.6.1992; leg. F. Amiet; unique identifier: GBIFCH00117689 (NMBE) [DNA extraction number 1224] • ♀; Rouffach; [47.959°N, 7.298°E]; 18.6.1992; leg. F. Amiet; unique identifier: GBIFCH00117690 (NMBE) [DNA extraction number 1225] • ♂; Valensole; 43.871°N, 5.88°E; 4.6.2018; leg. C. Praz / M. Aubert; unique identifier: GBIFCH00117716 (PRUN) [DNA extraction number 1282] • ♀; Virieu le Grand Clairefontaine; [45.8526°N, 5.6441°E]; 21.6.2014; leg. D. Goy (DGC) [DNA extraction number 2350] .

Italy • ♂; Italy, Basilicata, Monte Pollino; 39.904°N, 16.181°E; 4.7.2011; leg. Trunz, Litman, Praz; unique identifier: GBIFCH00117715 (PRUN) [DNA extraction number 1427] .

Distribution.

Northern and Central Europe, including Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France as far south as Valensole and Avignon (Fig. 55); southern Italy. The distribution in Central and Eastern Europe (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Poland), requires further examination due to confusion with Andrena producta, which was described as a subspecies of A. gelriae (see discussion in Gusenleitner 1984).

Pollen preferences.

Probably oligolectic on Fabaceae (Westrich 1989), although the difficulties in identifications prevent solid conclusions. In Switzerland the species was observed foraging on Medicago sp. and on Trifolium pratense (DB and CJP, unpublished data).

Phenology.

Univoltine, in central Europe from early June until mid-July, slightly after A. wilkella (although this species has a long flight period; see below) and A. intermedia, as in northern Europe ( Niemelä 1949).

Note.

Warncke (1967, 1973, 1975a, 1975b; see also Gusenleitner and Schwarz 2002) considered A. gelriae to be composed of several subspecies distributed from Spain and Portugal ( A. gredana; see Wood et al. 2021), southern France ( A. vocifera), Central and Northern Europe ( A. gelriae sensu stricto), Finland ( A. gelriae karelica Niemelä, 1949) and Austria to south-eastern Europe and Turkey ( A. producta). Gusenleitner (1984), Schwarz and Gusenleitner (1997) and Wood et al (2021) have respectively demonstrated that A. producta and A. gredana represent distinct species. Andrena vocifera is also raised here to a distinct species (see below). Following Niemelä (1949), we keep A. gelriae karelica in synonymy with A. gelriae, though the status of A. gelriae karelica requires investigation given the cryptic diversity present in this group.

This species is particularly challenging to identify in the female sex. Nearly all recent mentions from Switzerland (Amiet et al. 2010) were based on misidentified females.

Diagnosis.

See Schmid-Egger and Scheuchl (1997), Amiet et al. (2010) and the identification key below.