The State of the Art of the Tunisian Apidae Fauna (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

Based on a review of the available literature, the state of the art and a checklist of the fauna of the Apidae family of Tunisia is presented. The first list of the species of the family is given. 184 species and subspecies belonging to 19 genera, 12 tribes and three subfamilies were listed. Distribution of recorded taxa from Tunisia and from the world is provided. Apinae is the subfamily with the highest species richness with 89 species. Nomada has the highest number of species represented by 62 taxa. The Tunisian East center is the least species-diversified regions with only 16 species and subspecies reported so far. Five species are endemic to Tunisian fauna. Eight Nomada and one Anthophora species were collected from Tunisia, but their identity should be re-confirmed. The presence of Thyreomelecta sibirica (Radoszkowski, 1893) in Tunisia doubtful a re-examination and are needed.


Introduction
Hymenoptera is one of the most diverse insect orders with more than 150,000 described species (Aguiar et al., 2013). Members of this group are known for their important ecological role as pollinators and regulators of arthropods populations through parasitism and predation (Michez et al., 2019). The hymenopteran pollinators belong mainly to the superfamily Anthophila which has a crucial role in the reproduction of most flowering plants. For example, 70% of cultivated plants worldwide directly depend on the Anthophila (Apoidea) (Klein et al., 2007).
These studies are still seldom and do not determine the complete identity of captured specimens, in addition to have been carried out on a regional scale, not covering the entire country.
Here in, we provide an up to date list based on the screening of different literature review on the occurrence of species of Apidae recorded in Tunisia.

Materials and Methods
Available data existing in old and recent literature about Apidae family in Tunisia (Fig 1) were examined and summarized in a list as follows: for each species or subspecies, its valid name followed by the reference to its original description and its distribution in Tunisia and in the world were given. The classification and nomenclature follow Michener (2007) with some updates, as the case of the genus Tetraloniella Ashmead, 1900 which was synonymized under Tetralonia Spinola, 1838by Michener (2007 and subsequently treated as a junior synonym of Eucera by Dorchin et al. (2018). General distribution follows mainly Ascher and Pickering (2021). Species and subspecies within genera were ordered alphabetically. References of the distribution in Tunisia in published data were provided chronologically from the oldest to the most recent. "No specific locality" was mentioned when no reference about the excat location have been provided. Abbreviations

Discussion
Our study states that the Tunisian fauna of Apidae is composed of 184 species and subspecies belonging to 19 genera. The reported fauna is rich in terms of genera but not in species compared to Moroccan fauna where have been reported 15 genera and 241 species (Lhomme et al., 2020).
An uncertain identification for some species were noticed leading to the need for a re-examination of the specimens such as of Nomada femorata reported from Tunis province (Belvédère, Carthage) and Anthophora sp. from Tozeur (Schulthess, 1924). Also, Dusmet & Alonso (1932) reported Nomada species from Tunisia (Nomada discrepans Schmiedeknecht, 1882 var.?, Nomada n. sp. ? (furva Panz. var. ?), Nomada sp. ? (immaculata Mor. ?)) but without a clear identification. This may correspond to species already mentioned and for this reason they are excluded from the present list.
Some researchers (Maidl, 1922;Schulthess, 1924;Dusmet & Alonso, 1932;Ascher & Pickering, 2021) reported some species and subspecies from Tunisia, but without mentioning the specific locality. The total number of these taxa were 54 and the confirmation of their presence in Tunisia may be confirmed.
Geographically, Tunisia is divided into three main regions: North, Center and South regions (Fig 1). The North region is the most diverse in Apidae species with about 80% of the total number of species in the country (Fig 4). This may be related to edaphic, climatic and vegetation conditions characterizing this region which are favorable to the biology of those species. The East Center part of Tunisia including the Tunisian coast is the least rich area with only 16 species and subspecies. Future investigations in this area are required to contribute to knowledge of biodiversity of the apids in Tunisia (Figs 3, 4). A total of species recorded, only five are endemic to Tunisian fauna (Table 1).   (Warncke, 1983) + This list represents the first attempt to review Apidae fauna of Tunisia. More investigations on wild bees are necessary to improve our knowledge to this fauna in the country.