Andrena (Chlorandrena) danini Pisanty & Scheuchl, 2016

(Figs. 58–62, 64–65)

Male (Fig. 58).

Body length: 7–7.5 mm.

Colour. Head, mesosoma and legs black (Fig. 58). Apical 1/4–1/3 of clypeus usually yellow, at least centrally; paraocular area black (Fig. 59). Anterior side of flagellomeres 2–11 brown. Wings hyaline, veins and stigma brown. Metasoma dark brown to black; tergal marginal zones yellowish-brown, sometimes reddish (Fig. 61).

Pubescence. Head and mesosoma with medium to long white hair, especially dense and long on genal area, mesepisternum and fore coxa (Figs. 58–60). Femora and tibiae with white hair, tarsi with white to golden hair (Fig. 58). Tergal discs with moderately dense white hair, relatively long on tergum 1, gradually shorter on following terga, longer on lateral parts of terga. Tergal marginal zones with similar hair, denser on lateral parts, not forming distinct hair bands (Fig. 61).

Head (Figs. 59–60). 1.2 times broader than long. Labral process broader than long, trapezoidal, smooth and shiny, apical margin distinctly emarginate. Clypeus convex, very weakly protuberant, shagreened on basolateral margin, elsewhere smooth and shiny, punctation strong and dense, distance between punctures 1 puncture diameter, without impunctate midline (Fig. 59). Flagellomere 1 twice as long as 2, slightly longer than 3. Frons strongly longitudinally striated, interspersed with fine punctures. Ocelloccipital distance 1.2 ocellus diameters. Vertex strongly carinate, posterodorsal margin of genal area slightly carinate (Fig. 60).

Mesosoma (Fig. 60). Dorsolateral angle of pronotum not elevated, pronotum not carinate. Mesonotum and scutellum shiny, distinctly shagreened peripherally, weakly shagreened to smooth centrally, strongly punctured, distance between punctures 0.5–1.5 puncture diameters (Fig. 60). Mesepisternum and anterolateral part of propodeum strongly and densely obliquely punctured. Posterolateral part of propodeum finely alveolate, finely and irregularly rugose. Propodeal triangle delineated by weak carina, very finely rugose basally, very finely rugose to alveolate apically. Nervulus interstitial to antefurcal.

Metasoma (Fig. 61). Tergal discs shiny, 1 shagreened to smooth, 2–4 shagreened basally, weakly shagreened to smooth apically, disc 1 with strong, coarse crater-like punctures, the following discs gradually more shallowly punctured, distance between punctures 1–2 puncture diameters. Tergal marginal zones broad, moderately depressed, impunctate, finely shagreened except near apex, 2–4 occupying 0.4–0.5 of tergum length centrally.

Genitalia and hidden sterna (Figs. 62, 64–65). Dorsal gonocoxite lobes adjoined along medial genital axis, strongly developed, rounded apically. Gonostyli very elongate, blades flattened, leaf-shaped, apex weakly to strongly pointed. Basal 1/3 of penis valves of moderate, uniform width, central 1/3 tapering apically, apical 1/3 narrow (Fig. 62). Sternum 8 columnar, without lateral extensions, slightly broadened medially, apical half densely, uniformly hairy on ventral side, elsewhere mostly hairless, apical process slightly broadened, blunt-ended (Figs. 64–65).

Diagnosis. The males of A. danini very closely resemble those of A. cinereophila Warncke, and Warncke regarded them as a subspecies of the latter, named Andrena cinereophila antelica nomen nudum. The true identity of these specimens was only made possible with the advent of DNA barcoding (Table 2). Andrena danini males are distinguished from A. cinereophila by the smaller yellow apical area on the clypeus (covering half of clypeus in A. cinereophila), the more or less evenly, finely rugose propodeal triangle (basal margin more or less radially rugose, more strongly sculpted than apical part in A. cinereophila), the centrally smooth tergal discs 2–3, with distinct crater-like punctures (smooth to shagreened, crater-like punctures absent or weakly present only laterally in A. cinereophila), the more elongate genital capsule, and the straight, adjoined, apically rounded dorsal gonocoxite lobes (diverging outwards, more pointed apically in A. cinereophila) (Figs. 62–63).

Distribution: Israel (Pisanty et al. 2016); newly recorded from Jordan, Syria, Turkey and the West Bank, in arid to semi-arid habitats. In Israel, A. danini is present in the central region and the northern Negev, as well as the Jordan Valley, but it is apparently absent from the more mesic-habitat regions of the Carmel, Galilee, northern Golan and Mount Hermon.

Flight period: February–April, occasionally into May in Turkey (one handwritten record apparently from July, possibly erroneous).

Flower records: Asteraceae: Calendula sp., Crepis sancta, Geropogon hybridus, Leontodon tuberosus; Brassicaceae: Sinapis sp.; Geraniaceae: Geranium sp.; Linaceae: Linum pubescens .

Material examined: HOLOTYPE: ISRAEL: Lakhish, 3 km NE, 31.578°N 34.870°E, 19.ii.2016, G. Pisanty (♀) (SMNHTAU:234232); PARATYPES: ISRAEL: Besor Stream [Bsor W.], 4.iii.1985, E. Shney-Dor (1♀); Canada Park, 31.836°N 35.000°E, 18.iii.2016, G. Pisanty (1♀); Hartuv [Har.Tuv], 22.ii.1955, student (1♀); Jerusalem, 2.? vii.1940, H. Bytinski-Salz (1♀); Lakhish, 6.iii.2013, T. Shapira, pan traps (2♀); 20.iii.2013, T. Shapira, pan traps (2♀); 8.iv.2013, T. Shapira, pan trap (1♀); 13.iv.2013, T. Shapira, pan traps (2♀); 3 km NE, 31.575°N 34.870°E, 4.iii.2016, G. Pisanty, partly from pan traps (3♀); 11.iii.2016, G. Pisanty (1♀); 19.iii.2016, G. Pisanty, pan traps (2♀); 31.578°N 34.870°E, 19.ii.2016, G. Pisanty (1♀); Netiv HaLamed-Heh [Netiv Halamed He], 2 km WNW, 31.694°N 34.96°E, 26.ii.2009, G. Pisanty (1♀) (ES, OLML, SMNHTAU); non-type material: ISRAEL: Beit Guvrin [Beit Govrin], 28.iii.2010, G. Pisanty (6♀); Beit Nir, 28.iii.2010, G. Pisanty (1♀); 11.iii.2018, T. Roth, on Crepis sancta (1♀) and Linum pubescens (1♀); Degania [Deganya], 23.ii.1942, Y. Palmoni (1♂) (A. c. antelica paratype label); Gal’on, 4.iv.2018, T. Roth, on Geropogon hybridus (1♀); Gilat Research Center, fallow field, 31.3372ºN 34.6633ºE, 2.iii.2022, G. Pisanty, pan traps (2♂); Har’el, 21.ii.2020, K. Levy, pan trap (1♂); Horbat Sheqofa, 252 m, 31.5775°N 34.871°E, 15.iii.2021, G. Pisanty, pan traps (3♀, 7♂); Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, 22.ii.1946 (1♂) (A. c. antelica paratype label); 15.iii.1946, on Calendula, Geranium and Sinapis (6♂) (A. c. antelica holotype / paratype labels); Jerusalem env., 28.iii.1988, R. Leys (1♂); Kfar Menahem [Kefar Menahem], 6.ii.2010, G. Pisanty, on Leontodon tuberosus (1♂); Lakhish, 21.ii.2013, T. Shapira, pan trap (1♂); 3 km NE, 31.578°N 34.870°E, 19.ii.2016, G. Pisanty (2♂); [Lachish], 18.ii.2020, K. Levy, pan trap (1♀) and T. Roth, on Crepis sancta (1♂); 4.iii.2020, K. Levy, pan trap (1♂); 8.iii.2020, K. Levy, pan trap (1♂); 8.iii.2020, T. Roth, on Crepis sancta (1♂); Ma’agar Yeroham [Yerucham Lake], 15.iv.1997, A. Maklakov (1♀); Mikveh Israel [Miqwe Israel], 10.iii.1919, H. Bytinski-Salz (1♂) (A. c. antelica paratype label); Nahal Arugot [N.Arugot], 2.iii.1981, S. Kronenberg (1♀); Nahal Poleg [Birquat Ramadan], 13.iii.1940, H. Bytinski-Salz (1♂) (A. c. antelica paratype label); Negba, 31.iii.2021, Y. Halevi (1♀, 1♂); Netiv HaLamed-Heh [Netiv Halamed He], 2 km WNW, 31.694°N 34.96°E, 26.ii.2009, G. Pisanty, pan trap (1♂); Tell es-Safi [Tel Zafit], 7.iii.2018, T. Roth, pan traps (2♀); JORDAN: Irbid, Saham, 25.iv.2003, I. Pljushtch (1♀); SYRIA: Jabbul-See, SE Aleppo, 300 m, 19.iv.1992, K. Warncke (1♀); Maaloula [Maalula], 15.iv.1992, M. Kraus (1♀); TURKEY: Urfa, Ceylanpınar, 25.iv.1976, K. Warncke (1♂); Urfa, 20 km SE Harran, 23.v.1983, K. Warncke (1♀); WEST BANK: Har Brakha [Berakha], 1 km S, ‘Amassa Spring, 595 m, 6.iii.2015, L. Friedman (1♂); Maskiot [Maskiyyot], Rt. 578, Wadi Halat Mahmud el-‘Ali, – 75 m, 32°19’18’’N 35°29’52’’E, 27.ii.2020, L. Friedman (1♀); Wadi Ahmar, nr. Yarden, 32°01’N 35°30’E, 15.iii.2005, I. Zonstein (1♂); Wadi al-Far’a [Wadi Faria], 19.ii.1974, A. Freidberg (1♂) (A. c. antelica paratype label); Wadi Qelt [Nahal Perat], south-facing slope, 28.ii.2007, L. Friedman (1♂) (OLML, RMNH, SMNHTAU, TJW).