Osmia nigrohirta

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia nigrohirta Friese, 1899
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) nigrohirta are black bees with a little to no metallic shimmer on the abdomen. Females have black hair throughout their body with the exception of occasional reddish-brown hairs on the basitarsibasitarsi:
the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
and sometimes brown hair on 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
(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 yellow to white hair on their head, brownish hair on the thorax, T1–T3 have yellowish-brown hairs, and T4–T7 have black hairs (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 approximately 13 mm, and male body length is 11–13 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.).

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 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
  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 small median emarginationemargination:
  a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
  on the apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  edge and a small triangle-shaped depressed area around the emarginationemargination:
  a notched or cut out place in an edge or margin, can be dramatic or simply a subtle inward departure from the general curve or line of the margin or structure being described
  that is smooth and shiny.
• 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
  black.
• Male mid-leg femurfemur:
  the third segment of the leg, situated between the trochanter and the tibia
  expanded ventrally.
• Male gonocoxites conspicuously swollen subapically and acutely pointed apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  .
• 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
  without basalbasal:
  originating at the foundation of a structure
  gradulus.

May be confused with 

O. nigrohirta females are easily distinguished from all other Osmia (Osmia) by their almost entirely black pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
and relatively simple clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
. Male O. nigrohirta can be very similar in coloration to O. mustelina (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. nigrohirta males can be differentiated by the more brownish hair on the hind basitarsusbasitarsus:
the segment of the tarsus that is the nearest to the body of the bee, usually the largest of all the tarsal segments
and shape of the gonocoxites, which are acutely pointed apicallyapically:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
(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 nigrohirta adults have been recorded in flight during June and July (GBIF 2019eGBIF 2019e:
GBIF.org. 8 July 2019. GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.bfuama).

Host associations 

unknown

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia nigrohirta specimens have been collected in Turkey, Lebanon, and Albania (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.).

​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

References