Osmia mustelina

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia mustelina Gerstäcker, 1869
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) mustelina are black bees with a metallic blue shimmer (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.). Females have pale hair on their face, sometimes with abundant black hair intermixed on the fronsfrons:
the area between the antennae and ocelli on the bee's head
and vertexvertex:
the area between the ocelli and the back of the head
(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.; Fig. 1). Their thorax has mostly pale hair (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.; Fig 2). T1–T3 can be covered dark brown to white hair, T4T4:
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
can have white to black hair, and T5–T6 usually have entirely brown or black hair (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.; Fig 3). Male hair is similar to females except that generally males are hairier than females (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.). Female body length is 12–16 mm, and male body length is 10–12 mm (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.). O. mustelina found in Turkey tend to be much brighter than their counterparts (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.).

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.; Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.)

• Mouthparts much smaller than the length of the entire body when extended.
• 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
  without 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 somewhat triangular-shaped depressed shiny area at the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  rim and a median longitudinal 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 clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  without laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  horns.
• Female with a distinct pit at the bottom of the eye, just behind the malar spacemalar space:
  the shortest distance between the base of the mandible and the margin of the compound eye
  .
• Female mandibles are large, with acute, long lower teeth and wide 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
  red to reddish-yellow.
• Male hind basitarsusbasitarsus:
  the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
  with red or yellowish hair.
• 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
  without 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.
  basally.
• Male gonocoxitegonocoxite:
  basal part of the appendage formed on each side of the male genitalia. It can be partly or completely fused to the gonostylus at the apical portion of the appendage, often making the two segments indistinguishable.
  almost obtusely angled subapically.

May be confused with 

Osmia mustelina is similar enough to O. emarginata that O. emarginata could possibly be considered a subspecies of O. mustelina (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.). Female O. mustelina can be easily distinguished by the shape of the apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
margin of the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
and the presence of an impunctateimpunctate:
marked with punctures or pits
median ridge on the discdisc:
a generic term for the middle surface of a plate (usually in reference to an abdominal segment)
of the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
(Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.). Males are more difficult to distinguish, in general O. mustelina has less full and paler hair on the thorax, the gonocoxitegonocoxite:
basal part of the appendage formed on each side of the male genitalia. It can be partly or completely fused to the gonostylus at the apical portion of the appendage, often making the two segments indistinguishable.
is obtusely angled subapically, and the ventralventral:
of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
ridge less apparent (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.).

Phenology

O. mustelina adults have been recorded in flight between April and July (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.).

Host associations 

Osmia mustelina is known to collect pollen from Fabaceae, Cistaceae, Boraginaceae, Plantaginaceae, Rosaceae, and Ranunculaceae (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 mustelina make nests in preexisting cavities and can be found in cracks and crevices (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.). Nest cells are built from leaf material (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.).

Distribution

Osmia mustelina is native to Europe; they occur in the warmer areas of Central Europe. Distribution occurs in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Crimea, Greece, and Turkey (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.).

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References