Subspecies in Osmia (Helicosmia)
In the following three European species of the subgenus Osmia (Helicosmia), populations were given subspecific rank solely due to the white rather than yellowish pilosity of head, mesosoma and terga in the female sex:
– Osmia signata rhodia Tkalců, 2005 on Rhodes;
– Osmia labialis tornensis Tkalců, 1995 in eastern Europe;
– Osmia latreillei iberoafricana Peters, 1975 on the Iberian peninsula, Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and Cyprus.
As the different colour of the body pilosity is not known to be accompanied by other morphological differences compared to the nominate subspecies and as transitional populations occur containing both white and yellow haired individuals (e.g. in O. latreillei on Corsica, Sardinia and the Canary Islands; Tkalců, 1975a; Zanden, 1983; Warncke, 1988a), the subspecific rank of these three taxa does not seem to be justified. Thus, the three subspecies are synonymized with Osmia signata Erichson, 1835, Osmia labialis Pérez, 1879 and Osmia latreillei (Spinola, 1806), respectively.