The Sea Aster mining bee Colletes halophilus Verhoeff, 1944 (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) widely distributed at the Baltic Sea coast of Denmark and Germany

Abstract

The Sea Aster mining bee Colletes halophilus Verhoeff, 1944 is known as an endemic of the western European coasts of the Atlantic and the North Sea. The species has specific habitat requirements and is restricted to coastal habitats with populations of the Sea Aster (Tripolium pannonicum), its preferred host plant. Due to the late summer activity of adults and habitat specialisation, this solitary bee species is easily overlooked. In 2019, C. halophilus was first found at the Baltic Sea coast of the island of Fyn (Denmark), 2020 on the island of Rügen (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany) and in 2021 in Sehlendorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), demonstrating that the species is far more widespread and also occurring along the more continental Western Baltic Sea coast and Kattegat. Targeted sampling in 2022 revealed that C. halophilus is now present in most of the potentially suitable coastal habitats in Schleswig-Holstein and at least in some parts of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. We here present data on the currently known distribution of C. halophilus along the Baltic Sea coast of Denmark and Germany and discuss hypotheses of a potential recent range extension.