Osmia fedtschenkoi

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia fedtschenkoi Morawitz, 1875
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) fedtschenkoi are black bees with a faint greenish metallic luster (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). Females have intermixed white and black hair on the head and thorax, and primarily pale or white hair on the abdomen which forms distinct apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
hair bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
(Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). Male hair color is similar to the females except that the hair is more yellowish on T3–T7 (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). Males and females have a body length of approximately 11–12 mm (Ducke 1900Ducke 1900:
Ducke, A. 1900. Die Bienengattung Osmia Panz. Ber. naturw.-med. Ver. Innsbruck 25: 1ndash;323.).

Diagnostic characteristics 

(modified from Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.)

• Terga terga:
  the segments on the top side of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, or T7
  with apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  hair bandsbands:
  usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
  .
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with a deep, triangular median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  emargination and a longitudinal median impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  line on the discdisc:
  a generic term for the middle surface of a plate (usually in reference to an abdominal segment)
  .
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  without cutting edge between inner teeth.
• Female scopascopa:
  modified hairs for carrying pollen; often branched and dense hairs on the hind-leg, or on the ventral surface of the abdomen in Megachilidae
  reddish-yellow.
• Male middle femurfemur:
  the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia
  expanded and angulateangulate:
  forming an angle rather than a curve
  .
• Male S6S6:
  the plates on the underside of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, or S8
  with clear gradulusgradulus:
  A transverse line on abdominal segments of some bees that is formed by a groove or a step between two regions that differ in height. This line can be well developed and present across the entire segment but can also be diminished or absent through part of the segment, requiring close inspection.
  .

May be confused with 

The deep triangular emarginationemargination:
a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
on the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
of the female in combination with the lack of a cutting edge between the inner teeth of the mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
easily distinguish this species from other Osmia. The male can be readily identified by the angulateangulate:
forming an angle rather than a curve
middle femurfemur:
the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia
.

Phenology

Osmia fedtschenkoi adults have been recorded in flight from March to June (GBIF 2019cGBIF 2019c:
GBIF.org. 8 July 2019. GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ytygqt).

Host associations 

Osmia fedtschenkoi are polylecticpolylectic:
bees that collect pollen from the flowers of a variety of unrelated plants
and are known to harvest pollen from six different plant families: Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Rosaceae, and Ranunculaceae, with a strong preference for Fabaceae (Haider et al. 2013Haider et al. 2013:
Haider, M. S. Dorn, C. Sedivy, A. Muuml;ller. 2013. Phylogeny and floral hosts of a predominantly pollen generalist group of mason bees (Megachilidae: Osmiini). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 111: 78ndash;91.).

Nesting behavior 

Osmia fedtschenkoi prefer to make their nests in preexisting cavities and have been observed nesting bamboo stems, with nest cells composed of chewed up leaves and moistened mud (Ponomareva 1958Ponomareva 1958:
Ponomareva, A.A. 1958. Nesting habits of certain species of higher bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in southwestern Turkmenistan. Entomologičeskoe obozrenie 37: 616ndash;629.).

Distribution

Osmia fedtschenkoi has been found in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (Tkalcu 1969Tkalcu 1969:
Tkalcu, B. 1969. Beitrauml;ge zur Kenntnis der Fauna Afghanistans. Osmiini, Megachilidae, Apoidea, Hym. Acta Musei Moraviae 54: 327ndash;346.).

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References