Taxonomic revision of Anthophora subgenus Caranthophora describes new Ethiopian species

A morphological revision of the anthophorine bee subgenus Anthophora (Caranthophora) has described a new species, Anthophora calcarispina, from the Ethiopian highlands and documented the subgenus in the Afrotropical region for the first time. The study combined examination of museum and collection specimens with revision of type material and produced an identification key for the recognized species.

Anthophora (Caranthophora) is a small but morphologically distinctive group within the subfamily Anthophorinae. It had previously been regarded as distributed from the Mediterranean basin east to central China, with no species-level identification key available. The revision assessed the diagnostic concept established by Brooks in 1988, which was based mainly on male characters, and examined specimens whose identities had previously been uncertain or undescribed.

The researchers measured specimens from the front of the clypeus to the tip of the metasoma, rounding results to the nearest 0.5 mm. They used an Olympus E-M1 Mark II camera with a 60 mm macro lens and added close-up imaging with a Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 5× infinity-corrected objective lens. Stacked images were prepared in Helicon Focus and GIMP 2.10, with some lighting adjustments in Photoshop Elements. Morphological terminology generally followed Michener, with specified departures for tergal marginal areas, antennal segments and the forewing nervulus.

The new species is known from a single male holotype collected at Debre Libanos in Shewa, Ethiopia, at 38.8000°E, 9.7333°N and 2,550 m above sea level. The specimen is 10 mm long. Its diagnosis includes a strongly developed tooth on the inner margin of the hind basitarsus, a long spine on the inner margin of the hind tibia, and a raised, flattened carina on the hind trochanter. The outer hind tibial spur is displaced onto the spine-like projection. The name calcarispina refers to these spurred and spined structures.

Male genital and abdominal characters distinguish A. calcarispina from the other recognized Caranthophora species. Its seventh sternum has a broadly crescent-shaped apodeme with a concave anterior margin, while the eighth sternum is broad and has rounded lateral lobes. The gonocoxae bear a strong ventrally projecting tooth and a smaller subapical tooth, features that also help separate the species from A. tarsalis, with which it shares an extremely elongated hind apical tarsomere. The authors report that the Ethiopian species is readily distinguishable when compared with both Palaearctic and Afrotropical Anthophora faunas.

The revision also clarified names and distributions within the subgenus. Anthophora albopicta, previously described from a single female from southern Iran, was treated as a junior synonym of A. iole because its facial coloration and other features match that species. The new A. iole synonymy expanded the documented range of A. iole to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, extending its distribution from eastern Arabia through Iran to India and Nepal. The revision maintained an uncertain relationship between A. iole and the Chinese taxon A. unispina because the latter’s type material was unavailable for direct examination and its genital morphology differed from A. iole.

Anthophora spinacoxa was recognized as a junior synonym of A. tarsalis, and the latter received a neotype designation to clarify its taxonomic status. The neotype is the male specimen previously designated as the holotype of A. spinacoxa and is held by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. A. pubescens was newly recorded from Greece, while A. dufourii was newly recorded from Albania, North Macedonia and Iraq. A. kneuckeri, known only from its female holotype, was removed from Caranthophora and placed provisionally in Petalosternon, although its subgeneric placement could not be confirmed without an associated male.

Several limits remain in the revision. The distribution maps are described as incomplete, and conclusions about some taxa are constrained by missing, damaged, undissected or unexamined type material. The female of A. calcarispina is unknown, and the authors state that the available Anthophora data do not provide a modern dated phylogeny for testing biogeographic hypotheses. The study therefore documents a first Afrotropical record for the traditionally Palaearctic Caranthophora lineage, but the broader evolutionary history and range limits of these bees remain unresolved.

Subject of Research: Taxonomic revision of the Afrotropical record of the anthophorine bee subgenus Anthophora (Caranthophora)

Article Title: A revision of Anthophora ( Caranthophora ) Brooks with a remarkable new species from the Afrotropical region ( Hymenoptera , Apidae )

Article References: Wood, T. J. (2026). A revision of Anthophora (Caranthophora) Brooks with a remarkable new species from the Afrotropical region (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 73(2), 385-404. https://doi.org/10.3897/dez.73.201925

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/dez.73.201925

Keywords: Anthophora, Caranthophora, A. calcarispina, taxonomic revision, new bee species, Ethiopia, Afrotropical region, Hymenoptera, Apidae, species identification key, revision, Brooks