Osmia (Hoplosmia) picena ( Tkalců 1999 )

Müller, Andreas, 2018, Palaearctic Osmia bees of the subgenus Hoplosmia (Megachilidae, Osmiini): biology, taxonomy and key to species, Zootaxa 4415 (2), pp. 297-329 : 307

Osmia (Hoplosmia) picena ( Tkalců 1999)

Hoplosmia (Hoplosmia) picena Tkalců 1999: 11 . Type material: Holotype ♀, “ P.N. Sibillini, 5.8.1996 ” ( Italy), Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden.

Diagnosis of the hitherto unknown Ƌ: The male of O. picena is characterized by an emarginate spine on sternum 1. The only other O. ( Hoplosmia ) species with this character are O. centaureae and O. spinigera , which differ from O. picena by the distinctly coarser and denser punctation of terga and sterna and by the longer ocellooccipital distance (see Key to species).

New records. ITALY: Abruzzo: Rocca di Mezzo , 1500 m, 21.8.2002 (leg. A. Müller) ; Rovere near Rocca di Mezzo , 1350 – 1400 m, 25.8.2002, 2.8.2010 (leg. A. Müller) .

Distribution. Osmia picena has a very restricted distribution and is known only from the Sibillini and Abruzzo mountains in the Central Apennines of Italy. At three localities in the Abruzzo mountains, O. picena was observed to fly together with O. spinulosa indicating syntopic occurrence of these two closely related species within the distribution range of O. picena .

Pollen hosts. Oligolectic on Asteraceae (based on 21 pollen loads from five different localities in the Abruzzo mountains and on field observations). Eighteen pollen loads exclusively consisted of pollen of Carduoideae ( Centaurea and/or thistles), while the other three loads additionally contained pollen of Cichorioideae (n = 2) and Asteroideae (n = 1), suggesting that O. picena exhibits a preference for Carduoideae as pollen hosts, but occasionally also exploits flowers of Cichorioideae and Asteroideae .

Nesting biology. Unknown.