Osmia rufina

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia rufina Cockerell, 1931
Common name: none

Overview

Osmia rufina are black bees with a metallic green luster (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.). Females have dense yellow to white hair on the genagena:
the cheek or side of the head
, thorax, and legs; light orange hair on T1; and T2–T5 are covered with primarily dark brown hair (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.; Fig 3). Males have white to pale yellow hair on the face, thorax, and abdomen (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.; Fig 4–6). Female body length is 11–13 mm ,and male body length is 8–9 mm (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.).

Diagnostic characteristics 

(modified from Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.)

• 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 short, triangular-shaped laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  horns.
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  edge shallowly emarginated or with two small round 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.
• Male S2S2:
  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
  large, mostly covering the medially emarginateemarginate:
  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
  S3.
• Male 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
  without median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  emargination.
• Male T7T7:
  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
  apicallyapically:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  rounded.

May be confused with 

Osmia rufina look similar to O. bicornis and O. pedicornis. Females of these species all have laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
horns and bidentatebidentate:
having two teeth
median apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
projection on the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
. O. rufina females can be differentiated by the much shorter, rounded median apicalapical:
near or at the apex or end of any structure
projections on the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
and the short, triangular-shaped laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
horns on the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
. Males are similar in size and hair color and can be difficult to distinguish without dissecting them to see the genitaliagenitalia:
all the genital structures collectively
and hidden sternasterna:
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
. They can, however, be distinguished by the shape of 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
and the apexapex:
end of any structure
of the gonocoxites.

Phenology

unknown

Host associations 

Osmia rufina are associated with Fabaceae and Platycladus orientalis (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.).

Nesting behavior 

unknown

Distribution

Osmia rufina specimens have been recorded in Beijing, Fujian, and Sichuan in China (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.).

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References

Wu. Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta: 44: 1-474.