Osmia mutensis

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia mutensis Peters, 1978
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia mutensis is only known from the female holotypeholotype:
the type specimen used to describe a species
. Female O. mutensis are black bees with a greenish metallic hue, which is most noticeable when looking laterally at the bee. O. mutensis has whitish-yellow hair on the head, thorax, and abdomen, with dark hair interspersed 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.). Female body length is approximately 13 mm (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 of O. mutensis is unknown.

Diagnostic characteristics 

• Clypeus clypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin straight, entire, and somewhat thickened medially.
• Mandible mandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  without cutting edge between inner teeth.
• Mouthparts much smaller than the length of the entire body when extended.
• Propodeum propodeum:
  the last segment of the thorax
  dull and matte medially.
• Scopa scopa:
  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.

May be confused with 

O. mutensis females are similar to O. kohlii and O. fedtschenkoi in the shape of the mandibles, which lack a cutting edge between the two inner teeth. O. mutensis can be easily differentiated from these species by the simple, straight apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
edge of their clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
(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

unknown

Host associations 

unknown

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia mutensis is known only from western Turkey (Özbek 2013Ouml;zbek 2013:
Ouml;zbek, H. 2013. New Data on Large Carpenter-bees of Turkey with Considerations About Their Importance as Pollinators. Journal of Entomological Research Society 15(1): 79-89.).

​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

References