HOPLITIS ANTHOCOPOIDES , 
A EUROPEAN MASON BEE 
ESTABLISHED IN NEW YORK STATE 
(HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE) 
By George C. Eickwort 1 
Hoplitis anthocopoides (Schenck) (new combination for Osmia 
anthocopoides Schenck, 1853) was discovered in Albany County, 
New York State, in the summer of 1969 (Fig. 1). This bee is a 
common inhabitant of Central Europe and is found as far north as 
Scandinavia and as far south as Greece. In Europe, the bee is usually 
known as Osmia spinolae Schenck (e.g., Dalla Torre, 1896; Friese, 
1926) or as Osmia caementaria Gerstaecker (e.g., Schmiedeknecht, 
1884-85; Friese, 1923; Bluthgen, 1930). However, spinolae t the 
oldest name for the species, is preoccupied in Osmia , and the name 
caementaria is younger than anthocopoides , which has been rarely 
used in recent literature (e.g., Hedicke, 1930). Most European 
authors do not recognize Hoplitis as a separate genus and place 
anthocopoides and its relatives in Osmia. 
Hoplitis anthocopoides is similar to H. adunca (Panzer), the 
type species of Hoplitis Klug and its synonym, Ctenosmia Thomsen. 
The species is thus a member of the nominate subgenus, which pre- 
viously was restricted to the Old World. The subgenus (as 
Ctenosmia) was briefly described by Schmiedeknecht (1884-85). 
Description 
New York specimens fit the species descriptions of Gerstaecker 
(1869), Schmiedeknecht (1884-85), and Bluthgen (1930), and have 
been compared with European specimens by Dr. E. Stanek and are 
conspecific. The following notes, emphasizing the characters used 
by Michener (1947) to describe the American subgenera of Hoplitis , 
will distinguish H. anthocopoides from other American Hoplitis: 
Female: Length 8.5-10.5 mm. Integument black. Pubescence 
generally white; scopa yellowish-white; metasomal (gastral) terga 
1-5 with narrow white apical hair bands, often interrupted medially. 
In fresh specimens, dorsal pubescence light ochraceous. Head and 
thorax distinctly and closely punctate, punctures usually separated 
by less than their diameter. Clypeus (Fig. 2) strongly convex, 
^Department of Entomology and Limnology, Cornell University, Ithaca, 
New York 14850. 
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