I am interested in the ecology, evolution and systematics of bees. I received my PhD from the Hebrew University, where I studied crop pollination by bees. In my post-doctorate, I study the taxonomy of the genus Andrena, which includes about 1500 species of solitary, ground-nesting, short-tongued bees, many of which are pollen specialists. The genus is distributed mainly in the northern hemisphere, and is especially diverse in Mediterranean climates. Israel is home to more than 160 Andrena species, occupying diverse habitats from the top of Mount Hermon to the southern Negev and Arava. The national collection of insects in Tel Aviv University houses thousands of Andrena specimens collected throughout Israel. So far I have sorted the Israeli Andrena material and identified more than 10 species new to the country, and more than 30 species new to science. The status of several other taxa is still under study. I now work on a key to all the Andrena species of Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, and on descriptions of the new species.