Osmia (Erythrosmia)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Erythrosmia Schmiedeknecht, 1885
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Erythrosmia) are non-metallic bees that sometimes have red abdomens. The pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
is pale and sometimes red (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). They range in body length from 5.5–10 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.)

• Hind coxacoxa:
  the basal segment of the leg
  with strong longitudinal carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  along inner ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  angle.
• Malar space absent or linear.
• Maxillary palpus maxillary palpus:
  one of the pair of jointed, sensory structures carried on the maxilla of the mouth parts
  has four segments and a minute apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  fifth segment.
• Pale, sometimes red, pubescencepubescence:
  short, fine hair
  .
• Parapsidal lines can be punctiform or linear, although short.
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  is truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  and overlaps the labrumlabrum:
  part of the head abutting the clypeus, folds down in front of the mouthparts
  .
• Female tarsal claws simple.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  with two teeth.
• Male T6T6:
  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
  sometimes without laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  teeth.
• Male T6T6:
  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
  is elongate and has a median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  emargination.
• Male T7T7:
  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
  bifidbifid:
  divided into two branches; forked
  or bilobed.

May be confused with

Osmia (Erythrosmia) may be confused with O. (Allosmia) due to a similar slender body shape, but can be differentiated by the differences in the number of segments on the maxillary palpusmaxillary palpus:
one of the pair of jointed, sensory structures carried on the maxilla of the mouth parts
. Osmia (Erythrosmia) has four segments and sometimes a minute apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
fifth segment, while O. (Allosmia) has five segments (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Host associations

Osmia (Erythrosmia) are generalists and have been observed visiting Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, Boraginaceae, Crassulaceae, Brassicaceae, Cistaceae, Antirrhineae, and Campanulaceae (Müller et al. 1997; Müller 2018).

Nesting behavior

Osmia (Erythrosmia) have been observed nesting in snail shells where they use masticated leaves and broken snail shell pieces as building materials (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Osmia (Erythrosmia) andrenoides nest in small to medium-sized snail shells hidden under stones. Nests are comprised of one cell, which is partitioned with leaf pulp from Helianthemum. Cell walls are built from leaf pulp mixed with pebbles. Small pebbles and small sticks from plants are used to fill the space between the cell partition and the nest plug (Westrich 1989Westrich 1989:
Westrich, P. 1989. Die Wildbienen Baden-Wuuml;rttembergs. Eugen Ulmer GmbH amp; Co., Stuttgart, 972 pp.; Banaszak and Romasenko 2001Banaszak and Romasenko 2001:
Banaszak J. and L. Romasenko. 2001. Megachilid bees of Europe. Second edition. Bydgoszcz: Bydgoszcz University Press. 239 pp.; Müller 2018).

Diversity

Osmia (Erythrosmia) contains four species (Müller 2018). None are known to occur in the U.S. or Canada.

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Osmia (Erythrosmia) can be found in Europe, southwestern Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and East to Central Asia (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

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

References

Banaszak J. and L. Romasenko. 2001. Megachilid bees of Europe. Second edition. Bydgoszcz: Bydgoszcz University Press. 239 pp.

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. 2nd ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.

Müller, A., A. Krebs, and F. Amiet. 1997. Bienen: Mitteleuropäische Gattungen, Lebensweise, Beobachtung. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg, pp. 384.

Müller, A. 2018. Palaearctic Osmiine Bees, ETH Zürich, http://blogs.ethz.ch/osmiini

Westrich, P. 1989. Die Wildbienen Baden-Württembergs. Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., Stuttgart