Osmia taurus

Taxonomy

Family: Megachilidae
Subfamily: Megachilinae
Tribe: Osmiini
Genus: Osmia Panzer, 1806
Subgenus: O. (Osmia) Panzer, 1806
Species: Osmia taurus Smith, 1873
Common name: taurus mason bee

Overview

Osmia (Osmia) taurus are black bees with intermixed yellow and black hairs on their face and long yellow hairs throughout the rest of their body (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.). Males tend to have a greenish metallic hue to the abdomen (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.). Female body length is 10–12 mm and male body length ranges from 8–11 mm (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.).

Diagnostic characteristics 

(modified from Yasumatsu and Hirashima 1950Yasumatsu and Hirashima 1950:
Yasumatsu, K. and Hirashima, Y. 1950. Revision of the genus Osmia of Japan and Korea (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Mushi (Fukuoka) 21: 1ndash;18.; Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.)

• Mouthparts usually 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
  usually 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
  almost entirely smooth, shiny, and impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  .
• Female clypeusclypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  rounded or with acute median apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  projection.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  with inner-most tooth truncatetruncate:
  ending abruptly, or squared off
  .
• 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
  pale reddish-yellow.
• Male gonostylusgonostylus:
  the apical-most appendage of the male genitalia, which is usually quite hairy
  slightly expanded subapically.
• 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, often covering S3S3:
  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
  to S4S4:
  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
  .
• 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
  and 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
  without 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
  .

May be confused with 

Osmia taurus look similar enough to O. cornifrons that it likely led to the accidental introduction of O. taurus to the U.S. Osmia taurus can be differentiated from O. cornifronsby the truncatetruncate:
ending abruptly, or squared off
inner tooth of the mandiblemandible:
bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
and the mostly shiny and impunctateimpunctate:
marked with punctures or pits
basalbasal:
originating at the foundation of a structure
half of the clypeusclypeus:
a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
in O. taurus (Yasumatsu and Hirashima 1950Yasumatsu and Hirashima 1950:
Yasumatsu, K. and Hirashima, Y. 1950. Revision of the genus Osmia of Japan and Korea (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Mushi (Fukuoka) 21: 1ndash;18.). Males can be more difficult to differentiate but O. taurus tend to have abdominal hair with distinct red to orange hue, which can be faded in older specimens, whereas O. cornifrons have pale white abdominal hair, sometimes with black hair intermixed. The gonocoxites of O. taurus are also only slightly expanded subapically compared to the distinctly expanded gonocoxites of O. cornifrons.

Phenology

Osmia taurus adults have been recorded in flight from February to July in the U.S., and from January to October worldwide (GBIF 2019hGBIF 2019h:
GBIF.org. 26 July 2019. GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.itllyg).

Host associations 

Osmia taurus are generalists. They have been observed collecting from nine different plant families, where the flowers produce little nectar. They commonly collect from Juglandaceae, Fabaceae, and Altingiaceae (Quest 2009Quest 2009:
Quest, M. 2009. Arbestand, okologie und habitatwahl von bienen ausgewahlter offenlebensraume im lazovski zapovednik (ferner osten russland). Entomofauna (ansfelden), supplement 15: 1ndash;357.; 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.). Osmia taurus has also been used for orchard pollination in Asia (Maeta 1978Maeta 1978:
Maeta, Y. 1978. Comparative studies on the biology of the bees of the genus Osmia of Japan, with special reference to their managements for pollinations of crops (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Bulletin of the Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station. 57: 195ndash;209.).

Nesting behavior 

Osmia taurus nests in preexisting cavities in insect burrows in dead wood, straw tubes, and hollow stems. Cell partitions and nest plugs are composed of mud (Kitamura and Maeta 1969Kitamura and Maeta 1969:
Kitamura, T. and Y. Maeta. 1969. Studies on the pollination of apple by Osmia . III. Preliminary report on the homing ability of Osmia cornifrons (Radoszkowski) and O. pedicornis Cockerell. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.; Maeta 1978Maeta 1978:
Maeta, Y. 1978. Comparative studies on the biology of the bees of the genus Osmia of Japan, with special reference to their managements for pollinations of crops (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Bulletin of the Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station. 57: 195ndash;209.).

Distribution

Osmia taurus is native to Asia and is found predominantly in East China and Japan (Wu 2006Wu 2006:
Wu, Y. 2006. Hymenoptera: Megachilidae. Fauna Sinica, Insecta. Vol. 4. Science Press, Beijing.). Due to its similarity with O. cornifrons, a commercial pollinator, O. taurus were accidentally shipped to the U.S. in 2000 (Russo 2016Russo 2016:
Russo, L. 2016. Positive and negative impacts of non-native bee species around the world. Insects 7: 69.). O. taurus has now been collected throughout the East Coast of the U.S. (GBIF 2019hGBIF 2019h:
GBIF.org. 26 July 2019. GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.itllyg).

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

References

GBIF.org. 26 July 2019. GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.itllyg

Haider, M. S. Dorn, C. Sedivy, and A. Müller. 2013. Phylogeny and floral hosts of a predominantly pollen generalist group of mason bees (Megachilidae: Osmiini). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 111: 78-91.

Kitamura, T. and Y. Maeta. 1969. Studies on the pollination of apple by Osmia. III. Preliminary report on the homing ability of Osmia cornifrons (Radoszkowski) and O. pedicornisCockerell. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

Maeta, Y. 1978. Comparative studies on the biology of the bees of the genus Osmia of Japan, with special reference to their managements for pollinations of crops (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Bulletin of the Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station 57: 195–209. 

Quest, M. 2009. Arbestand, okologie und habitatwahl von bienen ausgewahlter offenlebensraume im lazovski zapovednik (ferner osten russland). Entomofauna (ansfelden), supplement 15: 1-357.

Russo, L. 2016. Positive and negative impacts of non-native bee species around the world. Insects 7: 69.

Savoy-Burke, G. 2017. Woodland bee diversity in the mid-Atlantic. University of Delaware Master of Science Thesis: 1-41.

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

Yasumatsu, K. and Hirashima, Y. 1950. Revision of the genus Osmia of Japan and Korea (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Mushi (Fukuoka) 21: 1-18.