A survey on family Andrenidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in Gorgan County, Iran

The Andrenidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) are widely distributed in the Palaearctic region. We present the results of a survey of the Andrenid bee fauna of Gorgan County, Golestan province, Iran, between 2014 and 2015. Bees were collected from flowers with sweep nets, and killed with ethyl acetate. The survey led to the identification of twenty-three species belonging to genera of Andrena Fabricius, 1775 and Melitturga Latreille, 1809 and subgenera of Campylogaster (1 species), Chlorandrena (1 species), Holandrena (2 species), Hoplandrena (1 species), Melanapis (1 species), Melandrena (4 species), Micrandrena (4 species), Nobandrena (1 species), Notandrena (1 species), Plastandrena (2 species), Simandrena (1 species), Truncandrena (1 species), Zonandrena (2) and Melitturga (1 species). Among these, eight and two species are new to the fauna of Iran and Asia, respectively. Available biological data, and geographical distribution of the newly recorded species are discussed briefly.