The bee family Halictidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) from Central Asia collected by the Kyushu and Shimane Universities Expeditions

Abstract

Background Central Asia is one of the important centers of bee diversity in the Palearctic Region. However, there is insufficient information for many taxa in the central Asian bee fauna. The Kyushu and Shimane Universities (Japan) Expeditions to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Xinjiang Uyghur of China were conducted in the years 2000 to 2004 and 2012 to 2014. New information Eighty-eight species of the bee family Halictidae Thomson, 1869 are enumerated including new localities in central Asia. Halictus tibialis Walker, 1871, H. persephone Ebmer, 1976, Lasioglossum denislucum (Strand, 1909), L. griseolum (Morawitz, 1872), L. melanopus (Dalla Torre, 1896), L. nitidiusculum (Kirby, 1802), L. sexnotatulum (Nylander, 1852), L. subequestre (Blüthgen, 1931), L. sublaterale (Blüthgen, 1931), and L. zonulum (Smith, 1848) are recorded from central Asia for the first time. Thirty-two species are newly recorded from Kazakhstan, 19 spp. from Kyrgyzstan, 2 spp. from Uzbekistan, and 11 spp. from Xinjiang Uyghur of China. The genus Lasioglossum dominated the number of species and individuals in the collection. The halictid fauna mostly composed of western to central Asian elements in our surveyed area.