Osmia (Melanosmia) tarsata Provancher 1888

Osmia (Melanosmia) tarsata Provancher 1888

Osmia tarsata Provancher 1888: 328.

Osmia kenoyeri Cockerell 1915: 483. Synonymy by Sheffield & Perron (2014) Osmia hendersoni Cockerell 1907: 365. New synonymy.

Holotype. ♀ USA: Colorado: Arapahoe Peak, 1 Sep. 1906, S. A. Rohwer (NMNH 27891).

County records: Alger, Chippewa.

Notes. This distinctive species occurs in the UP. Its taxonomy has been confused in the past, having been treated as a synonym of O. bucephala by Sandhouse (1939), but resurrected by Mitchell (1962) based on examination of the type material. In the same work, Mitchell recorded the female from Michigan as Osmia integra Cresson, a misidentification, because integra as now understood has a more western distribution. Sheffield & Perron (2014) recently synonymized O. kenoyeri with O. tarsata, which expands its known range of O. tarsata considerably. A series of males and females at PWRC was identified by S. Droege (as O. kenoyeri). Mike Arduser (in litt.) reports this species nesting in stable sand dunes and outwash plains at Grand Sable Dunes, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Nests excavated in 1987 had seven to nine globular cells composed of masticated Fragaria leaves attached to roots at the base of little bluestem grasses.

Material examined. Alger Co.: Pictured Rocks, N46.6635 W86.0111, 9 Jun. 2011, (2 ♀ PWRC); Pictured Rocks, N46.6616 W86.0252, 20 May 2011, (4 ♀ 13 ♂ PWRC), 14 Jul. 2011, (1 ♀ PWRC); Chippewa Co.: (no locality) 7 Jun. 1959, (1 ♀ MSUC); Paradise Bog T49N R7W, Sec. 15, on bearberry, 22 May 1993, (1 ♀ MSUC).