Cleptoparasitic bees (Apoidea, Anthophila) in rural protected areas in Latium (Italy): a faunistic survey through an integrative taxonomic approach

Background: Cleptoparasitic bees represent a poorly studied yet ecologically important component of wild bee communities, responding sensitively to environmental heterogeneity and reflecting local wild bee diversity. Despite representing approximately 13% of bee species globally, significant knowledge gaps remain regarding their species distribution, taxonomy, and conservation status, particularly within the Mediterranean region, which is recognized as a global hotspot for bee diversity. New information: This work provides a faunistic survey of cleptoparasitic bees collected in rural protected areas within the province of Rome (Latium, central Italy), employing an integrative taxonomic approach combining morphological identification and DNA barcoding (COI-5P gene). A total of 417 individuals belonging to 44 species from 10 genera and three families were collected. Five species are newly recorded for Latium. A total of 98 COI-5P sequences were generated and deposited in BOLD and GenBank, including the first COI-5P record for Nomada nausicaa Schmiedeknecht, 1882. The integrative approach proved particularly valuable for resolving challenging identifications and for highlighting some taxonomic issues - particularly within the genus Melecta - that clearly require further molecular and morphological studies. Our findings provide new distributional data on cleptoparasitic bees in central Italy and expand the availability of COI-5P sequences in public molecular databases.