Osmia cyrenaica

Taxonomy

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

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) cyrenaica is a largely unknown species, known only from the male holotypeholotype:
the type specimen used to describe a species
. O. cyrenaica are black bees with a copper gloss to the abdomen. The head has blackish hair, and the thorax and abdomen have rusty yellow to red hairs. Male body length is between 11–14 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.). O. cyrenaica is named after the Libyan coastal town Cyrenaica where specimens used to describe the species were collected (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 

(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.)

• Gena gena:
  the cheek or side of the head
  half as long or smaller than width of eye.
• Mouthparts much smaller than the length of the entire body when extended.
• Penis valves sharply pointed apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .
• Proboscis proboscis:
  an elongated sucking mouthpart that is typically tubular and flexible
  short, not reaching beyond the thorax in repose.
• S6 with a clear 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.
  basally.
• T2–T4 entirely pale, without any mixture of dark hair.

May be confused with 

Osmia cyrenaica are similar to O. rufa in size, hair coloration, antennal length, and width of the genagena:
the cheek or side of the head
. These species can be distinguished by each other by the shape of the penis valves, which often require dissection to view. O. cyrenaica has penis valves that are sharply pointed apicallyapically:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
, and O. rufa has penis valves that are relatively rounded (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.).

Phenology

Osmia cyrenaica flight time is unknown since this species is rarely collected. The specimen described by Peters (1978) was collected near the end of March.

Host associations 

unknown

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia cyrenaica is found in Libya (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.).

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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.