Contribution à la connaissance des abeilles de la Loire-Atlantique, du Maine-et-Loire et de la Vendée

We present an overview of a study on bees carried out by the Centre Vétérinaire de la Faune Sauvage et des Écosystèmes (CVFSE, Nantes, France) between 2014 and 2018. Bees were collected through net sampling in 84 sites located in 43 cities of the French region Pays de la Loire (32 cities in Loire-Atlantique, 4 in Maine-et-Loire, and 7 in Vendée). Sampling occurred in different types of habitats: urban areas, agricultural areas, and semi-natural habitats like grasslands, woodlands, and coastal zones. This study provided information on the distribution of 278 bee species, among which several were previously unknown to the Armorican Massif (Andrena florivaga, Chelostoma distinctum, Coelioxys obtusa, Eucera clypeata, E. pannonica, Hylaeus clypearis, H. leptocephalus, H. punctatus, Lasioglossum tarsatum, Nomada errans, N. furva, N. lisenmaieri, N. rubiginosa, N. villosa, and Sphecodes pseudofasciatus). It highlighted the great bee species richness in semi-natural habitats, notably in the coastal dunes, but also in some urban or suburban sites, as long as the management is favourable to bees.