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 1978). Females have intermixed white and black hair on the head and thorax, and primarily pale or white hair on the abdomen which forms distinct apical hair bands (Peters 1978). Male hair color is similar to the females except that the hair is more yellowish on T3–T7 (Peters 1978). Males and females have a body length of approximately 11–12 mm (Ducke 1900).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Peters 1978)

Terga with apical hair bands.
Female clypeus with a deep, triangular median apical emargination and a longitudinal median impunctate line on the disc.
Female mandible without cutting edge between inner teeth.
Female scopa reddish-yellow.
Male middle femur expanded and angulate.
Male S6 with clear gradulus.

May be confused with

The deep triangular emargination on the clypeus of the female in combination with the lack of a cutting edge between the inner teeth of the mandible easily distinguish this species from other Osmia. The male can be readily identified by the angulate middle femur.

Phenology

Osmia fedtschenkoi adults have been recorded in flight from March to June (GBIF 2019c).

Host associations

Osmia fedtschenkoi are polylectic 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. 2013).

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 1958).