Osmia (Tergosmia) lunata Benoist 1928
Creators: name: Müller, Andreas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Megachilidae
Osmia
Osmia lunata

description: Osmia (Tergosmia) lunata Benoist, 1928
Osmia lunata Benoist, 1928: 213. Type material: Lectotype ♂, by designation of Zanden (1985), “environs de Rabat” (Mo- rocco), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris.
Literature records. FRANCE: Pyrénées-Orientales (Estavar) (Benoist 1931; Zanden 1985). MOROCCO: Marrakesh-Safi (Oukaimeden, Taquelft), Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (Rabat) (Benoist 1928; Zanden 1985). PORTUGAL: Vila Real (Pardelhas) (Baldock et al. 2018). SPAIN: Albacete (Albacete), Badajoz (Helechar, Monesterio), Barcelona (Barcelona), Cáceres (Jerte, Tornavacas), Málaga (Malaga), Segovia (Valsain), Teruel (Albarracin), Toledo (El Real de San Vincente, Guardia), Zamora (Tábara) (Zanden 1985).
New records. FRANCE: Pyrénées-Orientales: Eyne, Coma Enila, 42.28°N / 02.04°E, 1630 m, 8.7.2008, 4♂ (leg. L. Ree Blondiau). MOROCCO: Marrakesh-Safi: Ijoukak, 50 km SW Asni, 31°00ʹN / 8°07ʹW, 22.4.1996, 9♀, 6♂ (leg. M. Schwarz, J. Gusenleitner); Souss-Massa: Tafraoute - Ait Baha, 800–1500 m, 20.4.2009, 7♀, 2♂ (leg. A. Müller). SPAIN: Albacete: 10 km N Albacete, 600 m, 24.5.1960, 1♀; Ávila: 6 km E San Bartolomé de Pinares, La Guija, Arroya d.l. Cerquillas, 40°32.88ʹN / 04°28.17ʹW, 1210 m, 29.5.2010, 1♀ (leg. R. Prosi); Badajoz: Llerena, 730 m, 16.5.2010, 1♂ (leg. J. Ortiz-Sanchez); Cádiz: Chiclana, 23 km S Cadiz, 36.344°N / 6.162°W, 8.4.2010, 1♀, 1♂ (leg. C. Schmid-Egger); Granada: Granada, Carro de Chupa, 1100 m, 29.5.1983, 1♀ (leg. W. Perraudin); Jaén: Sierra Segura, Homos de Seg., 1450 m, 19.6.2003, 1♀ (leg. M. Kafka); Segovia: Rio Peces, Revenga, 1165 m, 9.6.2012, 1♀ (leg. J. Ortiz-Sanchez).
Distribution. From southern Morocco northwards over the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Spain) to southern France.
Pollen hosts. Oligolectic on Fabaceae (Tab. 1; Rozen et al. 2010) with strong preference for Loteae (e.g. Lotus, Hippocrepis).
Nesting biology. O. lunata nests in excavated burrows in rather hard ground with the nest entrances usually being hidden under small shrublets (Fig. 19; Rozen et al. 2010; A. Müller personal observation). The nests contain up to 10 brood cells, which are separated by few millimeters only and reach the ground surface. The cells—each constructed within a more or less vertical and about 1.5 cm deep burrow—are three-layered: the outer layer is built of small to large petal pieces of Helianthemum (Cistaceae) and other plant taxa partly glued together with mud and rarely small pebbles, the central layer consists of a thin and sometimes only weakly developed layer of mud and the inner layer is composed of 6–10 layers of large petal pieces. After egg deposition, the cell is closed by folding the inner petal layer inwards followed by the construction of the cell cap, which consists of two layers: the inner layer is rather thick and made up of small petal pieces glued together with mud and small pebbles and the outer layer consists of a thin wall of several petal pieces tightly glued together. Occasionally, the cell cap is three-layered with a central layer of mud and small pebbles sandwiched between an inner layer of small petal pieces and an outer layer composed of a thin wall of petals. After completion of the nest cap, the cell is hidden below a thin and loose layer of small pebbles and earth fragments.
Behaviour. The males patrol flowers of Lotus in search of females (A. Müller personal observation).
description: Published as part of Müller, Andreas, 2020, Palaearctic Osmia bees of the subgenera Hemiosmia, Tergosmia and Erythrosmia (Megachilidae, Osmiini): biology, taxonomy and key to species, pp. 201-236 in Zootaxa 4778 (2) on pages 219-220, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4778.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3826170