Osmia (Melanosmia) subarctica Cockerell 1912

Gibbs, Jason, Ascher, John S., Rightmyer, Molly G. & Isaacs, Rufus, 2017, The bees of Michigan (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), with notes on distribution, taxonomy, pollination, and natural history, Zootaxa 4352 (1), pp. 1-160 : 118

Osmia (Melanosmia) subarctica Cockerell 1912 (New status)

Osmia (Nothosomia) michiganensis Mitchell, 1962: 92 ( New synonymy; Michigan holotype; Fig. 20 )

Holotype. ♂ USA: Michigan: Grand Traverse Co.: 27 May 1950, R.R. Dreisbach ( USNM ENT 00536966 ) (on indefinite loan from NCSU) .

County records: Dickinson, Grand Traverse.

Notes. Osmia subarctica is poorly known due to its northern range and past taxonomic confusion. Osmia subarctica was treated as a synonym of O. tersula Cockerell by Sandhouse (Sandhouse 1939) based on the identical locality information (“Hudson’s Bay, 44-17”, types deposited at the Natural History Museum, London) and apparent large impunctate margins of the metasomal terga shared by both species and this synonymy was followed by Hurd (1979). However, upon closer inspection of the holotype of O. subarctica by MGR, there are actually fine punctures that narrow the true impunctate margin of the terga. More importantly, the punctures of the clypeus and the curvature of the hind tibial spur are both different from what is found in females of O. tersula . In O. subarctica , the interspaces between the punctures of the clypeus are raised and the punctures themselves are elongated, giving the entire clypeus a wrinkled look, while in O. tersula the interspaces are flat and the punctures are round. In O. subarctica , the hind tibial spur is moderately thick, but strongly curved on its apical fifth, while in O. tersula the hind tibial spur is slightly thinner and the much less strongly curved apically. Mitchell (1962) described O. michiganensis based on a single male specimen and there are few subsequent records. Earlier specimens recognized by Mike Arduser as O. michiganensis are not O. subarctica (M. Arduser, in litt.), but rather belong to O. aff. trevoris , which follows below. A published record of O. michiganensis from Jackson Co., Michigan ( Fiedler et al. 2012) was a misidentified O. atriventris . The first report of this species outside of Michigan is from the Apostle Islands in far northern Wisconsin, by S. Droege (in litt. 2010).

Figures

FIGURE 20. Osmia michiganensis Mitchell holotype male (= O. subarctica Cockerell). A) Lateral habitus. B) Face. Photographs provided with the permission of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10 th and Constitution Ave. N. W., Washington, DC 20560 - 0193. (http: // www. nmnh. si. edu /).