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From the island country of Fiji, researchers have described nine new, and four previously known, species of bees belong to the genus Homalictus, a group that’s not been taxonomically reviewed in Fiji for 40 years. Many Homalictus bee species either have very restricted distributions or are known only from single mountaintops, the researchers say, and could soon become extinct due to changes in climate and other environmental risks. The researchers underscore the need for repeated field surveys to document and describe species from Fiji before they are lost. One of the four previously described bee species may have already gone extinct, having not been recorded since 2010, despite extensive surveys in the area.
