Osmia longicornis

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia longicornis Morawitz, 1875
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) longicornis are black bees, with metallic blue luster and 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
(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.). Females have intermixed black and brown hair on the head and thorax (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.). T1–T3 have primarily pale brown hair, and T4–T6 often have intermixed black and brown hair (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.). Males have similar hair to the females except that the margins of T6–T7 have long white hair laterally (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 13– 15 mm, and male body length is 11–13 mm (Ducke 1900Ducke 1900:
Ducke, A. 1900. Die Bienengattung Osmia Panz. Ber. naturw.-med. Ver. Innsbruck 25: 1ndash;323.).

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.; Romankova 1985Romankova 1985:
Romankova, T.G. 1985. New species of the genus Osmia (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) from the Far East. Research Institute of Biology and Biophysics 722: 591.)

• Mouthparts much smaller 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
  with 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 long laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  horns and an acute median projection. The discdisc:
  a generic term for the middle surface of a plate (usually in reference to an abdominal segment)
  of the clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  is mostly shiny and impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  .
• Male F1 almost as long as F2.
• Male gonostylusgonostylus:
  the apical-most appendage of the male genitalia, which is usually quite hairy
  apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  expanded.
• Male middle femurfemur:
  the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia
  expanded ventrally.
• Male S8S8:
  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
  acutely pointed apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .

May be confused with 

Osmia longicornis are very similar looking to O. opima, especially the females, which previous authors have been unable to differentiate (Romankova 1985Romankova 1985:
Romankova, T.G. 1985. New species of the genus Osmia (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) from the Far East. Research Institute of Biology and Biophysics 722: 591.). Males can be differentiated by dissecting them to view the gonostylusgonostylus:
the apical-most appendage of the male genitalia, which is usually quite hairy
, which is apicallyapically:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
expanded in O. longicornis and not in O. opima (Romankova 1985Romankova 1985:
Romankova, T.G. 1985. New species of the genus Osmia (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) from the Far East. Research Institute of Biology and Biophysics 722: 591.). S8S8:
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
also varies and has recurved laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
projections about mid-way through in O. opima and not in O. longicornis (Romankova 1985Romankova 1985:
Romankova, T.G. 1985. New species of the genus Osmia (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) from the Far East. Research Institute of Biology and Biophysics 722: 591.). S8S8:
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
of O. longicornis is also acutely pointed apicallyapically:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
(Romankova 1985Romankova 1985:
Romankova, T.G. 1985. New species of the genus Osmia (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae) from the Far East. Research Institute of Biology and Biophysics 722: 591.).

Phenology

Osmia longicornis adults have been recorded in flight from February to April (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.).

Host associations 

Osmia longicornis hosts are largely unknown, however, pollen loads recorded in a study by Haider et al. (2013) suggest preference for Rosaceae and Salicaceae.

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia longicornis specimens have been recorded in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (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