Osmia ariadne

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia ariadne Peters, 1978
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia ariadne have only been described from female specimens. They are black bees with a subtle dark blue-green luster to the thorax and head and a bronze shimmer on the abdomen (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). They have primarily black to dark brown hairs on the face, primarily pale hairs on the thorax, and the abdomen has rusty red hair on T1–T3, both black and reddish hairs on T4T4:
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 primarily black hairs on T5–T6. Female body length ranges from 11–12 mm (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). The name ariadne is derived from the ancient Greek legend Ariadne (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.).

Diagnostic characteristics 

(modified from Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.)

• Mouthparts much less than the length of the entire body when extended.
• Terga terga:
  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 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
  .
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with tridentatetridentate:
  having three teeth
  median projection and distinct laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  projections.
• 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
  reddish-yellow.

May be confused with 

The tridentatetridentate:
having three teeth
median projection on the apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
rim of the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
is distinctive, and it makes Osmia ariadne difficult to confuse with other Osmia species.

Phenology

unknown

Host associations 

unknown

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia ariadne is native to Greece (Peters 1978Peters 1978:
Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-palauml;arktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt) 58: 287ndash;346.). O ariadne specimens have been recorded in Turkey.

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References

Peters, D.S. 1978. Systematik und Zoogeographie der west-paläarktischen Arten von Osmia Panzer, 1806 s. str., Monosmia Tkalcu, 1974 und Orientosmia n. subgen. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica (Frankfurt), 58: 287-346

Zanden, G. van der (1986) Untersuchungen an einigen wenig bekannten Osmia und Megachile Arten mit Beschreibung zweier neuer Taxa (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Reichenbachia (Dresden) 24: 65-74.