Andrena (Notandrena) schlettereri Friese, 1896

Wood, Thomas James, Praz, Christophe, Selis, Marco, Flaminio, Simone, Mei, Maurizio, Cornalba, Maurizio, Rosa, Paolo, Divelec, Romain Le & Michez, Denis, 2023, Revisions to the Andrena fauna of Italy, with the description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), Fragmenta entomologica 55 (2), pp. 271-310 : 290-291

Andrena (Notandrena) schlettereri Friese, 1896

Remarks. Listed by Comba (2019) [species 30] as re- quiring confirmation for the Italian fauna, citing Pagliano (1994) who mentioned the species from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, without supporting specimen data. Zandigiacomo et al. (2013) also list A. schlettereri as present in this region, citing the distribution maps of Gusenleitner & Schwarz (2002) and arguing that they indicate the presence of A. schlettereri in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. These maps are too imprecise to determine marginal occurrences for national totals unless points are clearly present within a territory. This marginal occurrence derives from the fact that A. schlettereri was described from Pola [=Pula] in Istria ( Friese 1896), now in north-western Croatia, very close to the contemporary Italian border, and historically part of the Kingdom of Italy until 1947 as part of Venezia Giulia.

Examination of syntypic material in the SMFD collection shows that Friese mis-associated the sexes of his new species, as whilst the male conforms to the concept of A. schlettereri , the female is actually a specimen of A. bisulcata . Gusenleitner & Schwarz (2002) list the Deutsches Entomologisches Institut Eberswalde ( Germany) as the type depository for A. schlettereri , but this species is not listed in the type catalogue of this institute (Taeger et al. 2005), and could not be found during a recent visit (TJW). Friese (1896) mentioned that he had seen six specimens, so the location of the other four specimens is not precisely known. Examination of the ZMHB collection produced one male and two female specimens of A. schlettereri collected by Schletterer from Pula and determined by Friese. Both males and females conform to the current concept of A. schlettereri , showing that the incorrect sex additional of the SMFD specimens was a simple lapse by Friese. However, the ZMHB specimens are undated, although they likely do represent syntypes. Finally, there is a single female A. schlettereri from Pula collected by Schletterer in the NMW collection, but it is undated and determined by W. Grünwaldt. It may be the final syntype. In order to preserve the concept of A. schlettereri in line with its historical and contemporary use (e.g. Ockermüller et al. 2023), the dated male specimen from the SMFD is designated as a lectotype. In conclusion, Ockermüller et al. (2023) consider Pula in Croatia to be the western limit of A. schlettereri , and this is the position followed here, with A. schlettereri provisionally removed from the Italian fauna in the context of its contemporary political boundaries. Given the biogeographical similarity and short distance between Trieste and north-western Croatia, A. schlettereri may well be present around Trieste, and may be added to the Italian fauna in the future with additional sampling effort. However, we note that we have not examined any recently collected material of this species from Croatia, and its contemporary status within this country must also be established.