Andrena (Plastandrena) bimaculata

19. Andrena (Plastandrena) bimaculata (Kirby, 1802) Listed by Meena & Dey (2019): Bihar. Remarks Andrena bimaculata is a widespread but taxonomically challenging species. There is a great deal of uncertainty concerning species boundaries in the subgenus Plastandrena, with enormous colour variation in females that is not associated with commensurate variation in male genital capsules. Some members of the Plastandrena, including A. bimaculata and A. tibialis, are also seemingly not always identifiable using barcodes (Schmidt et al. 2015; Wood 2023b). In this context, A. bimaculata appears to have a predominantly Palaearctic distribution extending from the West Palaearctic to Mongolia, including Central Asia (Gusenleitner & Schwarz 2002; Ascher & Pickering 2023). However, this requires investigation using more powerful genetic techniques (e.g., using nuclear DNA). However, given the nominal distribution, the biogeography, the taxonomic uncertainty, and the lack of supporting specimen records, A. bimaculata cannot be accepted as present in Bihar, and is excluded from the Indian fauna.