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Zenodo
2025
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17520472 |
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- <p><i>Thyreus hirtus</i> (de Beaumont, 1940)</p><p><i>Crocisa hirta</i> de Beaumont, 1940: 169, ♀ ♂ [Switzerland, NMB, not examined]</p><p><b>Material examined.</b></p><p>Wood (2023) presented specimens of <i>Thyreus hirtus</i>; additional examined specimens are detailed in Suppl. material 1.</p><p><b>Notes.</b></p><p>Lieftinck (1968) and Wood (2023) both gave the year of publication as 1939, but Berland (1940) clarified that only pages 1–108 (issues 1–2) were published on 20 Apr. 1939, with pages 109–184 (issues 3–4) published on 30 Apr. 1940. The year of publication is therefore 1940. Wood (2023) demonstrated that most records of <i>T. hirtus</i> from North Africa actually belong to <i>T. rasmonti</i> Wood, 2023, or were simply misidentified specimens of other species such as <i>Thyreus mauretaniensis</i> (Strand, 1911).</p><p>One unclear specimen mentioned by Lieftinck (1968: 90) was that of a male from Crete. This specimen is in the RMNH collection (RMNH.INS.1714260) and was re-examined and re-determined as <i>T. histrionicus</i>, as it has entirely white hair on the face and the genital capsule is typical for <i>T. histrionicus</i> (see key below for precise criteria). A further specimen from Sarepta (= Volgograd) in European Russia was also mentioned by Lieftinck as coming from the Amsterdam museum collection. Although this collection has been integrated into the RMNH collection, this particular specimen could not be located. Given the enormous distance between the nearest confirmed <i>T. hirtus</i> records in Italy and southern European Russia (some 2,500 km), this record is excluded on the grounds of improbability.</p><p>The revised distribution of <i>T. hirtus</i> is therefore clearly West Mediterranean (Fig. 22). This conforms to the distribution of two <i>Echium</i> - specialised <i>Anthophora</i> Latreille, 1803: <i>Anthophora</i> (<i>Paramegilla</i>) <i>balneorum</i> Lepeletier, 1841 and <i>Anthophora</i> (<i>Paramegilla</i>) <i>femorata</i> (Olivier, 1789) (Fig. 22), which are suspected to be the hosts (Baldock et al. 2018). Although we do not have conclusive evidence or direct observation of these taxa at nest sites, the circumstantial evidence is substantial: <i>T. hirtus</i> and <i>An. femorata</i> are particularly common together in north-western Iberia and south-eastern France, <i>T. hirtus</i> and <i>An. balneorum</i> in the western Alps, and the overall distributions map closely together. <i>Anthophora balneorum sensu lato</i> in North Africa requires taxonomic attention, which will be provided in short order (TJW, in prep).</p><p><b>Distribution.</b></p><p>Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Algeria (Lieftinck 1968 <i>partim</i>; Wood 2023; Fig. 22).</p>