Andrena (Melandrena) erythrogaster (Ashmead, 1890)

Zarrillo, Tracy A., Stoner, Kimberly A. & Ascher, John S., 2025, Biodiversity of Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) in Connecticut (USA), Zootaxa 5586 (1), pp. 1-138 : 67

Andrena (Melandrena) erythrogaster (Ashmead, 1890)

Red-tailed Miner

= Andrena rhodora Cockerell, 1898: 171 (Connecticut lectotype; see LaBerge and Bouseman, 1970).

Lectotype. Female USA: Connecticut: Hartford Co.: Hartford , 2 June 1895, S. N. Dunning ( USNM).

Notes: First reported in Connecticut from Cockerell’s description of Andrena rhodura (Cockerell 1898b) , now a junior synonym. There are few records for this oligolege of willow ( Salix ) (Hurd 1979; Wood & Roberts 2018) in Connecticut, having only five records between 1904 and 1915, and then a gap of almost 90 years before this species was detected again on 24 April 2004 by J. S. Ascher in Bethel (Fairfield County) on willow (n = 17). The next detection of this species in Connecticut was a female singleton collected in Northford (New Haven County) on 12 May 2011 on wild mustard ( Brassica rapa ) during a study of alternative floral resources on diversified farms (Stoner 2013). More recently, this species was found in 2023 at Robbins Swamp Wildlife Management Area in Canaan (Litchfield County). This species is locally common on willow ( Salix sp. ) in Massachusetts (M.F. Veit pers. comm.) but may be declining in more southern sites.