Andrena africana Friese 1909

Kuhlmann, Michael, 2012, Two new species of the South African endemic bee genus Rediviva Friese (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae), Zootaxa 3517, pp. 71-78 : 72

Andrena africana Friese 1909

Andrena africana Friese, 1909: 126 .

Andrena kristenseni Friese, 1915: 265 , 268, 282–293. Andrena meneliki Friese, 1915: 265 , 269, 282–283.

Andrena abessinica nomen nudum: Friese 1915: 281. Andrena (Andrena) boswendica Viereck, 1917: 236 –239. Andrena (Andrena) aequatorialis Viereck, 1917: 235 –236. Notomelitta tropicalis Cockerell, 1934: 450 –452. syn. nov.

Notomelitta tropicalis was described by Cockerell (1934) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Michener (1981: 47), solely based on the description, transferred it to Rediviva without examining the type. This record of a Rediviva species is far outside the known range of the genus, that is assumed to be endemic to South Africa and Lesotho ( Michener 2007). Thus, it is surprising that R. tropicalis was not mentioned when the genus was first revised ( Whitehead & Steiner 2001, Whitehead et al. 2008) and it is listed under this combination by Eardley & Urban (2010: 197).

The occurrence of an oil-collecting Rediviva species outside the range of its presently known host plants would potentially have far reaching consequences for the understanding of the origin and evolution of the genus. To clarify this situation the type of Notomelitta tropicalis was examined, that is housed in the Musee Royal de l´Afrique Centrale in Tervuren ( Belgium). The specimen turned out to be a male of Andrena africana Friese 1909 and, thus, is a junior synonym of that species. The type is labelled as follows: (orange label): Type. / Musee du Congo, Beni à Lesse, fin vii-1911, Dr. Murtula / R. DÉT, D, 2499 / (handwritten by Cockerell): Notomelitta tropicalis Ckll. , Type (MRAC).