Osmia (Hapsidosmia)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Hapsidosmia Rightmyer, Griswold, & Brady 2013
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Hapsidosmia) are dark metallic blue-green bees with black hair throughout their body. They range in body length from 9–14 mm.

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Rightmyer et al. 2013Rightmyer et al. 2013:
Rightmyer, M.G., T. Griswold, and S.G. Brady. 2013. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia : subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology 38: 561-576.)

• Hind coxacoxa:
  the basal segment of the leg
  not or weakly carinatecarinate:
  having keels or carinae
  on inner ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  surface.
• Parapsidal line parapsidal line:
  the line that runs submedially along the scutum and corresponds to the median border of the site of origin for flight muscles
  punctiform.
• Female hypostomalhypostomal:
  the notched region underneath the head and behind the mandible that holds the folded tongue
  area usually densely punctatepunctate:
  studded with tiny holes
  .
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  has a strong triangular process on the lower margin.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  has a wide cutting edge between the two uppermost 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
  black.
• Female T2T2:
  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
  has a short impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  band on the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin.
• Male S2S2:
  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
  large, often hiding S3S3:
  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
  medially.
• Male S2S2:
  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
  , S3S3:
  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
  , S4S4:
  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
  , and S5S5:
  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
  have concave apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margins.
• 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
  without a median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  emargination.

May be confused with

Female O. (Hapsidosmia) may be confused with female species within O. (Cephalosmia) and O. (Trichinosmia) due to similar mandibularmandibular:
near the mandible
characteristics and the wide cutting edge between the two uppermost teeth. Female O. (Hapsidosmia) can be differentiated from O. (Cephalosmia) and O. (Trichinosmia) by the combination of the triangular process on the lower margin of their mandibles, black 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
, and narrow impunctateimpunctate:
marked with punctures or pits
margins on their tergaterga:
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
(Rightmyer et al. 2013Rightmyer et al. 2013:
Rightmyer, M.G., T. Griswold, and S.G. Brady. 2013. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia : subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology 38: 561-576.). Male O. (Hapsidosmia) may be confused with male O. (Cephalosmia) and O. (Trichinosmia) because of their thick gonoforcepsgonoforceps:
the unsegmented apical-most appendage of the external male genitalia
, sclerotizedsclerotized:
hardened by the formation of sclerotin, specifically the exoskeleton of an insect
S4 with short hairs on the discdisc:
a generic term for the middle surface of a plate (usually in reference to an abdominal segment)
, and sometimes dense hairs on the apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
margin. They can be differentiated by the distinctly concave apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
margins of S2S2:
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
to S5S5:
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
(Rightmyer et al. 2013Rightmyer et al. 2013:
Rightmyer, M.G., T. Griswold, and S.G. Brady. 2013. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia : subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology 38: 561-576.).

Host associations

Osmia (Hapsidosmia) are specialists of the plant tribe Fabeae (Fabaceae) (Forrest and Chisholm 2016Forrest and Chisholm 2016:
Forrest, J.R.K. and S.P.M. Chisholm. 2016. Direct benefits and indirect costs of warm temperatures for high-elevation populations of a solitary bee. Ecology 98: 359ndash;369.; Spear et al. 2016Spear et al. 2016:
Spear, D.M., S. Silverman, and J.R.K. Forrest. 2016. Asteraceae pollen provisions protect Osmia mason bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from brood parasitism. The American Naturalist 187: 797ndash;803.).

Nesting behavior

Osmia (Hapsidosmia) nest in above ground cavities in woody materials. Cell partitions are comprised of mud or sand grains and leaf pulp (Cane et al. 2007Cane et al. 2007:
Cane, J.H., T. Griswold, and F.D. Parker. 2007. Substrates and materials used for nesting by North American Osmia bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes: Megachilidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 100: 350ndash;358.; Forrest and Chisholm 2016Forrest and Chisholm 2016:
Forrest, J.R.K. and S.P.M. Chisholm. 2016. Direct benefits and indirect costs of warm temperatures for high-elevation populations of a solitary bee. Ecology 98: 359ndash;369.). Brood cells are placed linearly within the cavity. Each cell, which contains a single egg, is provisioned with a mass of pollen and nectar (Forrest and Chisholm 2016Forrest and Chisholm 2016:
Forrest, J.R.K. and S.P.M. Chisholm. 2016. Direct benefits and indirect costs of warm temperatures for high-elevation populations of a solitary bee. Ecology 98: 359ndash;369.).

Diversity

Osmia (Hapsidosmia) is monotypic with only one described species: O. iridis (Rightmyer et al. 2013Rightmyer et al. 2013:
Rightmyer, M.G., T. Griswold, and S.G. Brady. 2013. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia : subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology 38: 561-576.).

Distribution

Osmia (Hapsidosmia) can be found throughout the western U.S., ranging from the Rocky Mountains to California and Oregon (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

Cane, J.H., T. Griswold, and F. D. Parker. 2007. Substrates and materials used for nesting by North American Osmia bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes: Megachilidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 100: 350-358.

Forrest, J.R.K. and S.P.M. Chisholm. 2016. Direct benefits and indirect costs of warm temperatures for high-elevation populations of a solitary bee. Ecology 98: 359-369.

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

Rightmyer, M.G., T. Griswold, and S.G. Brady. 2013. Phylogeny and systematics of the bee genus Osmia (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) with emphasis on North American Melanosmia: subgenera, synonymies, and nesting biology revisited. Systematic Entomology 38: 561-576.

Spear, D.M., S. Silverman, and J.R.K. Forrest. 2016. Asteraceae pollen provisions protect Osmia mason bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from brood parasitism. The American Naturalist 187: 797-803.