Osmia (Metallinella)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Metallinella Tkalců, 1966
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Metallinella) are dull metallic blue or green bees that range in body length from 6.5–12 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
  without a longitudinal carinacarina:
  a clearly defined ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute; usually appears on bees as simply a raised line
  on the inner ventralventral:
  of, on, or relating to the underside of an animal, or segment of an animal
  margin.
• Metanotum metanotum:
  the posterior dorsal segment of the thorax, behind the scutellum
  with sharp anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  edge that is elevated approximately to the level of the surface of the scutumscutum:
  the large segment on top of the thorax located between the wings and behind the head
  and a space between the crest of metanotummetanotum:
  the posterior dorsal segment of the thorax, behind the scutellum
  and scutellumscutellum:
  shield shaped plate behind scutum
  .
• Propodeum propodeum:
  the last segment of the thorax
  surface dull, not shiny.
• Female tarsal claws bifurcatebifurcate:
  divided into two branches; forked
  .
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  two-toothed.
• 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
  with apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  margin straight.

May be confused with

Osmia (Metallinella) may be confused with O. (Helicosmia) due to similar body form. However, they can be differentiated by the above diagnostic characteristics (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 (Metallinella) have been observed visiting Brassicaceae (Praz et al. 2008Praz et al. 2008:
Praz, C.J., A. Muller, and S. Dorn. 2008. Specialized bees fail to develop on non-host pollen: do plants chemically protect their pollen? Ecology 38: 795ndash;804.; Müller 2018).

Nesting behavior

Osmia (Metallinella) nest in the cavities of wood-boring insects, insect burrows in dead wood, drilled borings in wooden blocks and pithy stems, hollow stems, and holes and cavities in walls (Müller 2018). Nest plugs are made of chewed leaves. The cavities do not have separate cells, so the nests lack cell partitions. Cavities are filled with pollen. Eggs are scattered throughout the nest with the pollen. Cocoons, when formed, are arranged at random in various orientations (Radchenko 1978Radchenko 1978:
Radchenko, V.G. 1978. A new type of nests without cells in Metallinella atrocaerulea . Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 57: 515ndash;517 [In Russian; English translation in Entomological Review 57: 353ndash;355.; Bosch et al. 1993Bosch et al. 1993:
Bosch, J., N. Vicens, and M. Blas. 1993. Analisis de los nidos de algunos Megachilidae nidificantes en cavidades pre-establecidas. Orsis 8: 53ndash;63.).

Diversity

Osmia (Metallinella) contains one species, O. brevicornis, which does not occur in the U.S. or Canada (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Osmia (Metallinella) have been found in northern Africa, southwestern Asia, and throughought Europe (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.; Müller 2018).

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

References

Bosch, J., N. Vicens, and M. Blas. 1993. Analisis de los nidos de algunos Megachilidae nidificantes en cavidades pre-establecidas. Orsis 8: 53-63.

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. 2nd ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp. Psyche 77: 190-201.

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

Praz, C.J., A. Müller, and S. Dorn. 2008. Specialized bees fail to develop on non-host pollen: do plants chemically protect their pollen? Ecology 38: 795-804.

Radchenko, V.G. 1978. A new type of nests without cells in Metallinella atrocaerulea. Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 57: 515-517 [In Russian; English translation in Entomoligical Review 57: 353-355.