Osmia (Nasutosmia)

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: Nasutosmia Griswold and Michener, 1998
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Nasutosmia) are slender bees that range in body length from 5–6 mm (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). They have pale pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
that sometimes forms narrow apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
hair bandsbands:
usually referring to bands of hair or bands of color that traverse across an abdominal segment
on the 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
(Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Osmia (Nasutosmia) was previously a subgenus of Hoplitis. In 2008, O. (Nasutosmia) was transferred from the genus Hoplitis to Osmia based on phylogenetic findings (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.)

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.
• Parapsidal lines are linear.
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  has a strong, mid-apical projection and orange tufts of hair on the underside.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  is robust and four-toothed.
• Male abdomen is commonly curled so that only S1S1:
  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 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
  are visible.
• Male S6S6:
  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
  has transparent inflexed laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  flaps.
• Male T1T1:
  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 shiny and lacks an angle between the anterioranterior:
  toward the head or on the head side of a segment being described
  and dorsaldorsal:
  in general, the upper surface
  surfaces but has a groove.
• 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 simple and has one laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  tooth.
• 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
  is pointed medially.

May be confused with

Osmia (Nasutosmia) may be confused with species within the subgenus Hoplitis (Alcidamea) due to similar small, slender body shapes, and the smooth, flat T1T1:
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 a longitudinal median groove (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). Osmia (Nasutosmia) can be differentiated by the lack of a median pit on the male’s 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
and the female having a four-toothed mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
, which is three-toothed in H. (Alcidamea) (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 (Nasutosmia) are most likely specialists on Fabaceae (Müller 2018b).

Nesting behavior

Nesting behavior is unknown.

Diversity

Osmia (Nasutosmia) contains two described species, O. corniculata and O. nasuta, and one undescribed species (Müller 2018b).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

Distribution

Osmia (Nasutosmia) can be found in northern Africa, France, and Spain (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

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. Muller, B. N. Danforth, T.L. Griswold, A. Widmer, and S. Dorn. 2008. Phylogeny and biogeography of bees of the tribe Osmiini (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49: 185-197.