Neither lost nor quite forgotten: tracing 19th and early 20th century bee types in the collections of Oxford and Paris (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)

Historical collections are an indispensable aspect of the study of biodiversity, but dispersed, lost, or confused types render this study challenging. Efforts are presented here to trace obscure types of bee species described by French authors, predominantly in the museums of Oxford and Paris. Lectotypes are designated for the following taxa: Anthophora aerizusa Vachal, 1903; Anthophora atrocaerulea Sichel, 1869; Anthophora expleta Vachal, 1910; Anthophora hastula Vachal, 1910; Anthophora nigrovittata Dours, 1869; Anthophora padiola Vachal, 1910; Crocisa nubica Lepeletier, 1841; Xylocopa micans Lepeletier, 1841; and Xylocopa vidua Lepeletier, 1841. Amegilla (Aframegilla) nila Eardley, 1994 is synonymised with Amegilla (Aframegilla) expleta (Vachal, 1910) n. syn. Anthophora atrocaerulea is considered to have been incorrectly described from “Célèbes” (Sulawesi); it is actually senior to the African Amegilla (Aframegilla) regalis (Cockerell, 1946) n. syn. In reverse, Crocisa calcarata Vachal, 1903 was uncertainly described from Africa, and is actually conspecific with the Australasian Thyreus nitidulus (Fabricius, 1804) n. syn. Xylocopa crassa Lepeletier, 1841 is considered to be from the Indo-Malayan region and is formally synonymised with Xylocopa (Platynopoda) tenuiscapa Westwood, 1840 n. syn. and Xylocopa marginella Lepeletier, 1841 is formally synonymised with Xylocopa (Platynopoda) latipes (Drury, 1773) n. syn. Due to the uncertainty over the original collecting locality of X. latipes a neotype from Indonesia (Java) is designated. Ctenoplectra alluaudi Vachal, 1903 has been misinterpreted, and is actually conspecific with Ctenoplectra antinorii Gribodo, 1884 n. syn. Additionally, Scrapter ugandica Cockerell, 1944 is conspecific with Ctenoplectrina nigrotestacea (Magretti, 1895) n. syn. A new species of Amegilla with metallic hairs Amegilla (Zonamegilla) sicheli n. sp. is described from Sulawesi (Indonesia) following the clarification of the identity of Amegilla atrocaerulea. Amegilla stantoni (Cockerell, 1911) is synonymised with Amegilla whiteheadi (Cockerell, 1910) n. syn., and Amegilla whiteheadi majui n. subsp. is described from the island of Maju (Indonesia).