20. Andrena (Plastandrena) peridonea Cockerell, 1920

Listed by

Meena & Dey (2019): North India.

Remarks

Cockerell (1920) described A. peridonea from Hangu which is now in the state of Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province). Although Gusenleitner & Schwarz (2002) indicated that the type depository was unclear, the type material is actually in the USNM collection (USNMENT00533689). Photographs on the Smithsonian website (https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/ento/) indicate that the species is part of the subgenus Plastandrena, though since it was described in the female sex only it is very difficult to comment on its specific status due to the numerous taxonomic problems in this subgenus, particularly in the female sex (2023b). Meena & Dey (2019) list the species from northern India, but without any specimen records. This listing likely refers to the concept of pre-partition British India (the title of Cockerell’s paper is “Some Indian bees of the genus Andrena ”), and hence the species is excluded from the contemporary Indian fauna pending precise specimen records.