Osmia (Hemiosmia)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Hemiosmia Tkalců, 1975
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Hemiosmia) are non-metallic bees with pale pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
on their head, thorax, and abdomen, and often have apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
fasciae 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
. They range in body length from 7–13.5 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
  not or weakly carinatecarinate:
  having keels or carinae
  along the inner ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  angle.
• Malar space short, shorter than the width of the pedicelpedicel:
  the second segment of the antennae, between the scape and flagellum
  .
• Parapsidal lines punctiform.
• Proboscis proboscis:
  an elongated sucking mouthpart that is typically tubular and flexible
  not extending beyond the middle of the thorax in repose.
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  is truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  and overhanging the labrumlabrum:
  part of the head abutting the clypeus, folds down in front of the mouthparts
  .
• Female front trochantertrochanter:
  segment of the insect leg between the coxa and the femur
  with a carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  on the ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  surface.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  has a distinct tooth on the inner ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  margin.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  narrower in the middle than at the base.
• Female tarsal claw simple.
• Male flagellumflagellum:
  any segment of the antenna past the scape and pedicel
  crenulatecrenulate:
  having a finely scalloped or notched outline or edge
  .
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  three-toothed.
• Male middle tibiatibia:
  the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  swollen, concave, and often spiculate on inner surface.
• Male middle tibial spurtibial spur:
  apical projection(s) often found at the apex of the tibia
  reduced.
• 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
  with strong posterolateral tooth.

May be confused with

Female Osmia (Hemiosmia) may be confused with O. (Cephalosmia) because both subgenera can have an angle or tooth on the inner ventralventral:
of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
margin, but can be differentiated by the smaller and more closely punctatepunctate:
studded with tiny holes
clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
(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 (Hemiosmia) are specialists on Fabaceae (Haeseler 2008Haeseler 2008:
Haeseler, V. 2008. Zur Biologie der mediterranen Mauerbienen Osmia balearica Schmiedeknecht 1885 und Osmia uncicornis Peacute;rez 1895 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 46: 289ndash;300.; Rozen et al. 2010Rozen et al. 2010:
Rozen Jr., J.G., H. Ouml;zbek, J.S. Ascher, C. Sedivy, C. Praz, A. Monfared, and A. Muller. 2010. Nests, petal usage, floral preferences, and immatures of Osmia (Ozbekosmia) avosetta (Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Osmiini), including biological comparisons with other osmiine bees. American Museum Novitates 3680: 1ndash;22.; Müller 2018). Osmia iberica has also been observed collecting from Antirrhineae (Müller 2018).

Nesting behavior

Species within the subgenera O. (Hemiosmia) often use masticated leaves to build cells in nests in excavated burrows in loose soil (Haeseler 2008Haeseler 2008:
Haeseler, V. 2008. Zur Biologie der mediterranen Mauerbienen Osmia balearica Schmiedeknecht 1885 und Osmia uncicornis Peacute;rez 1895 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 46: 289ndash;300.; Rozen et al. 2010Rozen et al. 2010:
Rozen Jr., J.G., H. Ouml;zbek, J.S. Ascher, C. Sedivy, C. Praz, A. Monfared, and A. Muller. 2010. Nests, petal usage, floral preferences, and immatures of Osmia (Ozbekosmia) avosetta (Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Osmiini), including biological comparisons with other osmiine bees. American Museum Novitates 3680: 1ndash;22.). Osmia balearica nests in burrows in loose, sandy soil near dead plants. The dead plant roots are used to attach the cells in the ground. Similar to O. balearica, O. uncicornis and O. difficilis also nest in excavated burrows in loose, sandy or gravely soil. In O. difficilis, plant roots were not attached to the cell as seen in O. balearica and O. uncicornis (Haeseler 2008Haeseler 2008:
Haeseler, V. 2008. Zur Biologie der mediterranen Mauerbienen Osmia balearica Schmiedeknecht 1885 und Osmia uncicornis Peacute;rez 1895 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 46: 289ndash;300.; Müller 2018). Osmia argyropyga nest in abandoned nest cells of Megachile pyrenaica (Müller 2018).

Diversity

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

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Osmia (Hemiosmia) can be found from the Mediterranean to East and 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

Friese, H. 1923. Die europäischen Bienen (Apidae). Das Leben und Wirken unserer Blumenwespen. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 456 pp.

Haeseler, V. 2008. Zur Biologie der mediterranen Mauerbienen Osmia balearica Schmiedeknecht 1885 und Osmia uncicornis Pérez 1895 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 46: 289-300.

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

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

Rozen Jr., J.G., H. Özbek, J.S. Ascher, C. Sedivy, C. Praz, A. Monfared, and A. Muller. 2010. Nests, petal usage, floral preferences, and immatures of Osmia (Ozbekosmia) avosetta (Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Osmiini), including biological comparisons with other osmiine bees. American Museum Novitates 3680: 1-22.