Osmia cerinthidis

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia cerinthidis Morawitz, 1876
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) cerinthidis are dark bees with a metallic blue shimmer on the head and thorax and a metallic bronze or blue hue to the abdomen. Hair coloration of O. cerinthidis can be highly variable, ranging from light grey to intensely reddish-brown (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.). Female body length is 11 –12 mm. Male body length is 10–11 mm (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.).

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. and Amiet 2004)

• Mouthparts much smaller than the length of the entire body when extended.
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  with two curved laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  horns with blunt tips protruding and a median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  spine.
• 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
  red.
• Female 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
  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
  .
• 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
  with longitudinal gradulusgradulus:
  A transverse line on abdominal segments of some bees that is formed by a groove or a step between two regions that differ in height. This line can be well developed and present across the entire segment but can also be diminished or absent through part of the segment, requiring close inspection.
  .
• Male gonocoxites digitiform after bending apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .

May be confused with 

Osmia cerinthidis may be confused with O. rufa because of sometimes similar hair coloration (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.; Amiet 2004). Females can be distinguished from O. rufa by the shape of the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
, and males can be distinguished by the shape of the gonocoxites which are more digitiform apicallyapically:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
in O. cerinthidis.

Phenology

Osmia cerinthidis adults have been recorded in flight from April to July (Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.).

Host associations 

Osmia cerinthidis is oligolecticoligolectic:
the term used to describe bees that specialize on a narrow range of pollen sources, generally a specific plant genus
on Boraginaceae with a strong preference for Cerinthe (Boraginaceae) (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.; Haider et al. 2013Haider et al. 2013:
Haider, M. S. Dorn, C. Sedivy, A. Muuml;ller. 2013. Phylogeny and floral hosts of a predominantly pollen generalist group of mason bees (Megachilidae: Osmiini). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 111: 78ndash;91.; Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.).

Nesting behavior 

Osmia cerinthidis nest in preexisting cavities such as the hollow stems of grasses, for example in Phragmites (Banaszak and Romasenko 1988). Osmia cerinthidis has also been known to nest in man-made cavities like drilled borings in wooden blocks (Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.). Cell partitions and nest plugs are made of sand and earth dust glued with saliva (Banaszak and Romasenko 1998Banaszak and Romasenko 1998:
Banaszak, J. and L. Romasenko. 1998. Megachilid bees of Europe (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Megachilidae). Bydgoszcz University, Bydgoszcz, Poland.).

Distribution

Osmia cerinthidis is native to southern Europe, and specimens have been recorded in central Europe from the eastern Alps to Ukraine (Amiet et al. 2004Amiet et al. 2004:
Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Mueller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Apidae 4: Anthidium , Chelostoma , Coelioxys , Dioxys , Heriades , Lithurgus , Megachile , Osmia , Stelis . Fauna Helvetica 9: 1ndash;273.).

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References