Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Neosmia Tkalců, 1974
Common name: none
Osmia (Neosmia) are robust, non-metallic bees with long, red, pale, black, or mixed hairs throughout their entire body. They range in body length from 7.5–15 mm (Michener 2007).
(modified from Michener 2007)
Osmia (Neosmia) may be confused with O. (Tergosmia) because of the short first flagellar segment, but they can be differentiated by the presence of a hair-filled median emargination on S3, which is absent in O. (Tergosmia).
Osmia (Neosmia) are generalists on a multitude of families including Fabaceae, Resedaceae, Brassicaceae, Cistaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Lamiaceae, Zygophyllaceae, and Cichorioideae (Müller 2018b).
Osmia (Neosmia) construct their nests in empty snail shells. Osmia bicolor uses masticated leaf materials to line the cells of their nest. Additionally, O. bicolor creates a pile of pine needles and grass with a secretion to cover the snail shell (Westrich 1989). Nest plugs are constructed from pebbles and dirt (Müller 2018b). Osmia rufigastra constructs cell partitions out of masticated leaves. The nest plug is comprised of leaf pulp and densely packed particles, followed by a final wall of leaf pulp with fragments of shell. The surface of the snail shell is covered in leaf pulp, and the shell is transported and buried in a sandy location (Müller 2018b). Osmia cinnabarina builds cell partitions within the snail shell out of chewed leaves. The nest plug is comprised of leaf pulp and densely packed particles, followed by a final wall of leaf pulp with fragments of shell and small pebbles. The surface of the shell is covered with leaf pulp (Müller 2018b). Osmia scutispina does not bury the snail shell nest into the ground as seen in many other species (Müller 2018b).
Osmia (Neosmia) consists of nine species (Michener 2007; Müller 2018b). None are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.
There are no known invasives.
Osmia (Neosmia) is found in the Palearctic (Müller 2018b).
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