Andrena (incertae sedis) iohannescaroli Nobile, 2000

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 : 289

Andrena (incertae sedis) iohannescaroli Nobile, 2000

Remarks. Listed by Comba (2019) [species 165] citing Nobile (2000) who described the species from Sicily. However, Ghisbain et al. (2023) demonstrated that this name is invalid as it was described after 2000 without specifying a type depository. Additionally, the identity of the specimen described as A. iohannescaroli is unclear, as it was originally described as Parandrena iohannescaroli due to the reported two-submarginal cells in the forewing. However, the situation is confused; the subgenus Parandrena Robertson, 1897 was described from North America, and North American members of the subgenus do have two submarginal cells in the forewing. However, West Palaearctic species placed in this subgenus by Warncke have three submarginal cells, and based on genetic evidence do not fall into this subgenus ( Pisanty et al. 2022), being better placed in the subgenus Leucandrena Hedicke, 1933 . Nobile (2000) diagnosed A. iohannescaroli against A. tunetana Schmiedeknecht, 1900 and A. larisana Warncke, 1965 , arguing that they were similar since they both also display two submarginal cells. However, Nobile (2000: 38) reports that no material of these two species was available to him for study, and this is indeed the case since both species actually present three submarginal cells. As a result, it is not clear what A. iohannescaroli is being diagnosed against, and the description nor any of the illustrations allow recognition. It may be the case that the specimen is aberrant, since sometimes bees have weak wing venation and some typically three-celled species can present two submarginal cells. Study of the type specimen is required before further conclusions can be drawn.