Megachile lapponica Thomson, 1872

Cornalba, Maurizio, Quaranta, Marino, Selis, Marco, Flaminio, Simone, Gamba, Sirio, Mei, Maurizio, Bonifacino, Marco, Cappellari, Andree, Catania, Roberto, Niolu, Pietro, Tempesti, Stefano & Biella, Paolo, 2024, Exploring the hidden riches: Recent remarkable faunistic records and range extensions in the bee fauna of Italy (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Anthophila), Biodiversity Data Journal 12, pp. 116014-116014 : 116014

Megachile lapponica Thomson, 1872

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Elena Gazzea; sex: 1 female; occurrenceID: C6974FF3-F5F4-57D9-8AA6-EFB07497BF37; Location: countryCode: IT; stateProvince: Veneto; county: Belluno; municipality: Livinallongo; locality: Cherz; verbatimElevation: 1780 m; verbatimLatitude: 46.5089; verbatimLongitude: 11.9118; Identification: identifiedBy: Maurizio Mei, Andree Cappellari, vid. C. Praz; Event: eventDate: 2021-07-28 /08-10; Record Level: collectionCode: MZUR Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: Marco Bonifacino; sex: 1 male, 1 female; occurrenceID: 7889BBF0-C297-58D8-BF91-03EE1C0B8419; Location: countryCode: IT; stateProvince: Abruzzo; county: L'Aquila; municipality: Lucoli; locality: Valle Leona; verbatimElevation: 1685 m; verbatimLatitude: 42.2059; verbatimLongitude: 13.4202; Identification: identifiedBy: Marco Bonifacino; Event: eventDate: 2021-07-06; Record Level: collectionCode: MBC

Notes

The specimen from Veneto was caught in a pan trap and the ones from Abruzzo on Epilobium sp, in agreement with the stated oligolecty of M. lapponica on Epilobium ( Amiet et al. 2004, Scheuchl 2006). These are the first records of the species from Italy. The one from Abruzzo is particularly noteworthy because, excepting isolated records from Greece, it is by far the most southerly in Europe. Even in the Alps, the records of M. lapponica are sporadic, although this may be due more to the difficulty of intercepting the species than to its actual rarity (C. Praz, personal communication 2022). Images: Fig. 6 .

Figures

Figure 6. Megachile lapponica Thomson, 1872, (A) female from Livinallongo, clypeus and mandibles; (B) female from Lucoli, inner hind tibial spur; (C), (D) male from Lucoli, genitalia.