The bees of the Aegean: diversity, faunistics, biogeography

The Aegean Islands are of particular biogeographic interest due to their location between the Anatolian and Balkan Peninsula in the East Mediterranean. Among others, these islands constitute a hotspot for bee diversity for which no systematic study has ever been accomplished. Here, we present the results of the first study on bee diversity carried out on 8 islands located on a north-south climatic gradient. Bee sampling was carried out three times during the main flowering period in 2012 using pan-traps and hand-netting as collecting methods. Only Mediterranean open communities, mainly phrygana, were surveyed which were selected at a density proportional to the size of each island. The total number of the communities surveyed amounted to 66. Overal 429 bee species were identified on the islands (Thasos (160), Samothrace (123), Limnos (191), Chios (197), Kos (136), Naxos (126), lkaria (87), Karpathos (104)], belonging to 6 families [Colletidae (28), Andrenidae (79), Halictidae (88), Melittidae (4), Megachilidae (99), Apidae (131)). The species composition appears to change along a north-south gradient, with Colletidae - Halictidae prevailing in the northern islands (Thasos, Samothrace) and Apidae prevailing in the remaining 6 islands.