Osmia (Hoplosmia) spinigera (Latreille, 1811)

Renter: Snail Shells: Snail shells of medium size are used, e.g. Theba pisana (Helicidae). H. Wiesbauer (pers. comm. cited in Müller, 2018) reports that in sand dune areas in Greece, where soil surface temperature can reach 50–60°C on sunny days, the females preferentially nested in shells lying in the shade of small shrubs; if the shells lay openly on the hot sandy ground, the females rolled their nests to sun-protected places under shrubs, probably to protect them from overheating.

Cell partitions and nest plug are constructed from leaf mastic.

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