Twenty-five new species of mining bees (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae: Andrena) from Israel and the Levant Author Pisanty, Gideon 0000-0003-2076-430X gidpisa79@yahoo.com Author Scheuchl, Erwin 0000-0001-7500-2316 erwin.scheuchl@t-online.de Author Martin, Teresa 0000-0003-4433-0477 teresa.martin@agr.gc.ca Author Cardinal, Sophie 0000-0002-5674-5891 sophie.cardinal@agr.gc.ca Author Wood, Thomas James 0000-0003-2076-430X gidpisa79@yahoo.com text Zootaxa 2022 2022-09-13 5185 1 1 109 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5185.1.1 journal article 173358 10.11646/zootaxa.5185.1.1 500935fc-fd0d-4cd1-b994-390f35fddadb 1175-5326 7073826 D34A7F04-8EAD-4441-A859-CFD79F7740D2 Andrena ( incertae sedis ) hulae Pisanty sp. nov. ( Figs. 210–213 ) Female ( Fig. 210 ). Body length: 8.5 mm . Colour. Head and mesosoma dark brown to black ( Figs. 210–212 ). Anterior side of flagellomeres 3–10 orange. Legs and metasoma brown ( Figs. 210 , 213 ). Last tarsal segment orange. Wings hyaline, veins brown, stigma dark orange to brown ( Fig. 210 ). Tergal marginal zones reddish basally, yellowish apically ( Fig. 213 ). Pubescence. Clypeus with short and thin whitish hair. Paraocular area with medium-lengthed white hair. Scape with short white hair. Frons with short white hair. Foveae with short whitish hair. Vertex with medium yellowishwhite hair ( Figs. 211–212 ). Genal area with short to medium white hair. Mesonotum, scutellum and metanotum with short to medium yellowish-white hair, mostly on periphery ( Figs. 210, 212 ). Mesepisternum with long white hair. Propodeal corbicula incomplete, posterodorsal fringe with long white plumose hairs, corbicular surface with medium to long white plumose hairs. Leg hair white to golden. Flocculus complete, white. Tibial scopal hairs simple, white ( Fig. 210 ). Tergal discs almost hairless medially, laterally with short whitish hairs. Tergal marginal zones 2–4 with broadly interrupted bands of white hair. Terminal fringe golden ( Fig. 213 ). Head ( Figs. 211–212 ). 1.2 times broader than long. Galea shagreened, matt. Labral process smooth, much broader than long, apical margin slightly arched. Clypeus moderately protuberant, strongly arched, basal half strongly and finely shagreened, apical half gradually smooth, punctation fine and dense, distance between punctures 1–1.5 puncture diameters ( Fig. 211 ). Malar area length 0.2 times width of mandible base. Flagellomere 1 longer than 2+3. Frons longitudinally striated, interspersed with sparse, shallow fine punctures. Facial foveae broad, occupying slightly more than half distance between compound eye and lateral ocellus ( Figs. 211–212 ). Distance of fovea from lateral ocellus 1.5 times width of lateral ocellus. Ocelloccipital distance 1.4 ocellus diameters. Vertex carinate. Genal area 1.2 times as broad as compound eye ( Fig. 212 ). Mesosoma ( Fig. 212 ). Dorsolateral angle of pronotum not elevated, pronotum not carinate. Mesonotum strongly and uniformly shagreened, weakly shiny, with dense, shallow but distinct, coarse crater-like punctures, distance between punctures 0.5–1 puncture diameters. Scutellum shagreened peripherally, shiny and weakly shagreened centrally, with regular (not crater-like) punctures, distance between punctures 1 puncture diameter ( Fig. 212 ). Mesepisternum finely alveolate, densely and shallowly punctured, punctures merging onto underlying sculpture. Propodeal corbicula finely reticulate. Posterior part of propodeum clearly divided into basal, moderately sloping part, and apical vertical part. Posterolateral part of propodeum finely alveolate, shallowly, obliquely punctured. Propodeal triangle narrow, rugose basally, finely alveolate apically. Inner side of hind femur not carinate. Inner hind tibial spur almost straight, of uniform width. Hind pretarsal claw bidentate. Nervulus interstitial ( Fig. 210 ). Submarginal crossvein 1 meets marginal cell 4 vein widths from stigma. Metasoma ( Fig. 213 ). Tergal discs impunctate, 1–2 finely shagreened, 3–4 weakly, finely shagreened and shiny. Tergal marginal zones similarly sculptured, smooth near apex, 2–4 slightly depressed, centrally occupying 1/3–1/2 of tergum length. Pygidial plate finely alveolate, rounded apically, without elevated central area. Male. Unknown. Diagnosis. Andrena hulae is most similar to A. ramosa Wood , recently described from southern Spain , which is morphologically related to the subgenus Planiandrena ( Wood et al. 2022 ) . However, recent molecular findings show that the COI barcode of A. ramosa falls closest to species of Euandrena , questioning its subgeneric placement (TJW, unpublished results). We therefore place both A. hulae and A. ramosa as incertae sedis for the time being. Andrena hulae is similar to Planiandrena species in its short and broad labral process and its relatively broad propodeal triangle with short longitudinal rugae basally, but its fovea is substantially broader, the hind tibial spur is not broadened submedially, and the pygidial plate lacks a centrally elevated area. Compared to A. ramosa , A. hulae can be separated by its smaller body size of 8.5 mm ( 12 mm in A. ramosa ), its broad foveae that occupy over half the space between the compound eye and the lateral ocellus (occupying 1/3 of this space, separated from lateral ocellus by over two times diameter of lateral ocellus in A. ramosa ), propodeal triangle with short basal longitudinal rugae (without rugae basally in A. ramosa ), its flat and centrally alveolate pygidial plate (pygidial plate with smooth surface, with weakly raised longitudinal ridge in A. ramosa ), and by its weakly plumose hairs on the mesepisternum, propodeal corbiculae, flocculus, and femoral scopae (these areas with extremely long and extremely plumose hairs in A. ramosa ). Distribution: Northern Israel . Flight period: March. Flower records: None. Holotype : ISRAEL : Sde Eliezer [Sede Eli’ezer], N Rosh-Pina , 19.iii.1995 , R. Kasher , ♀ ( SMNHTAU :367741). Paratypes : ISRAEL : same as holotype ( 1♀ ) ( SMNHTAU ) . Etymology. Named after the Hula Valley in northern Israel , where the species was collected. The species epithet is an adjective.