Bumblebees are ubiquitous, cold-adapted, primitively eusocial bees and important pollinators for crops and vegetation. However, many species are declining worldwide due to multiple factors, including human-induced habitat loss, agricultural chemicals, global warming, and climate change. In particular, future climate scenarios predict a shift in the spatial distribution of bumblebees under global warming, with some species declining and others potentially expanding. Here, we report a de novo genome assembly and annotation for Bombus lapidarius and Bombus niveatus to decipher species-specific potential genomic capacity against such environmental stressors. With harboring more than 23,000 protein-coding genes, the assembled genomes of B. lapidarius and B. niveatus are 244.44 Mb (scaffold N50 of 9.45 Mb) and 259.84 Mb (scaffold N50 of 10.94 Mb), respectively, which exhibit similar trends in terms of genome size and composition with other bumblebees. Gene family analysis reveals differences in species-specific expanded gene families. B. lapidarius exhibits expanded genes related to pre/postsynaptic organization, while B. niveatus shows a distinct expansion in gene families regulating cellular growth, aging, and responses to abiotic and biotic stressors, such as those containing SCAN domains, WD-repeats, and Ras-related proteins. Our genome-wide screens revealed positive selection on environmental stress-responsive genes such as dip2, yme1l, and spg7 in B. lapidarius, whereas positive selection signatures were found in genes such as myd88, mybbp1A, and rhau, which are involved in environmental stress resistance for B. niveatus. These high-quality genome assemblies and comparative genome analysis unveil potential drivers that underlie genome evolution in bumblebees, offering valuable insights into environmental adaptation and conservation efforts.

The data about the bee fauna of Diyarbakır and Bingöl provinces of eastern Türkiye is quite limited. This study was conducted between 2016 and 2017 to determine Megachilidae and Halictidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) bee diversity of these two provinces. Adult samples were collected by atrap and killed with ethyl acetate. As a result of the evaluation of the collected bee samples, a total of 28 species (17 species from Megachilidae family and 11 species from Halictidae family) were identified from these provinces. Four species of them are known as cleptoparasites. In terms of the plant-bee relationship, eighteen of the species identified are polylectic, while five are oligolectic. Collection localities of all identified species were provided. With the current study, the number of known species belonging to the Megachilidae and Halictidae fauna of both provinces increased from 45 to 65.

Andrena is one of the most diverse bee genera in the Holarctic Region, yet its species diversity and distribution in Türkiye remain poorly documented. This study provides an updated faunistic assessment of the genus in the Mediterranean Region of southern Türkiye, based on extensive field sampling in 12 provinces between 2008 and 2009 and a comprehensive synthesis of existing records. Specimens were identified using the latest taxonomic revisions and provincial distributions were compiled to produce a contemporary regional baseline. A total of 81 species were documented, belonging to 26 subgenera, including three endemic Turkish taxa (A. hungarica ssp. macroura, A. purpureomicans and A. cinnamonea ), as well as A. wolfi , which was recorded in the country for the first time. Floral visitation data were also incorporated into the study. Furthermore, the species distribution was summarised with regional maps. The photos of morphological characters of regional and Turkish new records were also taken and included to the study. Together, these results provide the most current and comprehensive overview of Andrena diversity in southern Türkiye, offering a critical foundation for future research into the taxonomy, biogeography, pollination ecology and conservation of Mediterranean bee communities.

Objective: Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) are one of the main components of ecosystems with their indispensable roles in pollination service. However, in evaluating population trends, problems such as long-term monitoring data and insufficient taxonomical knowledge are at the forefront. To obtain long-term monitoring data on wild bees, pan traps are one of the useful methods among other equipment. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the efficiency of pan trap’ shapes and the color preference of some very common wild bees.Materials and Methods: We set up a total of 24 pan traps in 8 stations at the Avcılar Campus (6 stations) and at the Alfred Heilbronn Botanical Garden (2 stations) of Istanbul University (Istanbul, Türkiye). At each station, three different colors (blue, yellow, and white) were used. At the end of each collection period, the traps were cleaned and moved to the next station.Results: As a result of the fieldwork, 329 apoid specimens were collected. 257 of them were determined as bees and 72 of them were wasp specimens in total. According to the results, yellow pan traps were 2 times more efficient than other colored pan traps combined.Conclusion: Our identifications show that members of Halictidae and particularly members of the genus Lasioglossum are the most abundant bee groups among collected specimens. Moreover, we observed that members of Halictidae (Lasioglossum sp. and Halictus sp.) tend to prefer yellow color more than the others.

Objective: To characterize the observed flower visitation and plant-use patterns of Bombus Latreille species in the Marmara Region of northwestern Türkiye.Materials and Methods: A total of 3,737 valid Bombus–plant records obtained from 278 sampling stations were analyzed. The dataset comprised 20 bumblebee species associated with 49 plant genera belonging to 21 families. Plant genus × Bombus species and plant family × Bombus species interaction matrices were constructed, and record numbers, station-based interaction totals, associated species richness, and dominant-species shares were evaluated.Results: Onopordum, Stachys, Echium, Epilobium, and Digitalis were the most prominent plant genera, whereas Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Onagraceae supported broad bumblebee assemblages. The interaction structure was concentrated around several frequently visited plant genera and was supplemented by a broad pool of additional floral resources.Conclusion: The study provides a regional baseline for Bombus–plant interactions and ecological evidence that can support future monitoring and conservation planning for bumblebee communities in the Marmara Region.

The fragmentation of urban green spaces in megacities such as Istanbul has raised concerns about the biodiversity of insects, particularly solitary hymenopterans. This study reports the first occurrence of Psenulus fuscipennis (Dahlbom, 1843) in Istanbul, Türkiye, and evaluates its nesting behaviour across an urbanisation gradient using artificial nest blocks. Twenty-five nest blocks, with entrance cavity diameters of 1.0, 0.7, and 0.4 cm, were monitored from March to September 2020. Nesting occurred exclusively in 0.4 cm cavities (n = 325 emergence events). The adults were identified morphologically, while the immature stages were confirmed by COI DNA barcoding. Importantly, the relationship between abundance and urbanisation depended on the analytical framework used. A non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test comparing abundance among three urbanisation categories (low, semi, high) found no significant differences. However, a Generalised Linear Model (Poisson, log-link), which treated urbanisation as an ordinal predictor and controlled for habitat type (garden, park or rural), revealed a significant positive association between higher urbanisation intensity and abundance. This model also indicated higher abundance in rural locations than in gardens and lower abundance in parks. Thus, while categorical comparisons alone did not detect differences, model-based inference revealed a positive relationship between urbanisation and abundance once habitat variation was accounted for. Our results demonstrate that P. fuscipennis can utilise fragmented green spaces under urban pressure, with microhabitat (cavity size) remaining the primary constraint and the urbanisation signal likely reflecting unmeasured covariates rather than a general increase.