1987] 
Griswold & Parker — Protosmia from Spain 
55 
combinations based on a study of the types by T. Griswold.) Strand 
(1921) thought it likely that Osmia cataniae, based on a single male 
from Sicily, was a representative of P. minutula, but stated he was 
naming it in the event that it should be found distinct. The type of 
O. cataniae is severely damaged, with the head and most of the 
abdomen gone, but the first sternum, whose form is distinctive for 
each species in the group, is still intact. The shape of this segment is 
the same as found in the male syntypes of P. minutula. Further, the 
type of O. cataniae is from Sicily, where one of the syntype males of 
P. minutula was taken (Benoist 1928). On these grounds, it is here 
placed in synonymy with P. minutula. 
Males of P. asensioi can be readily distinguished from P. minu- 
tula by the shorter antennal flagellomeres and by the less pro- 
nounced median lobe of tergum VI and from P. pulex by the dark 
tegula, the absence of wide translucent apical borders on the terga, 
and the lack of a shallow medioapical emargination on sternum I. 
Females of P. asensioi can be distinguished from other Protosmia 
by the following combination of characters: the convex clypeus, the 
structure of the mandibular carinae, the apical position of the labral 
hair tuft, the absence of modified hairs on the mouthparts, the 
oblique metanotum with medially dense pubescence, the distribu- 
tion of apical fasciae on the terga, the absence of translucent mar- 
gins on the terga, and the lack of a strong transverse carina on 
sternum I. 
Acknowledgments 
The study of types was made possible by grant BSR-83 13307 
from the National Science Foundation. We wish to thank S. Kelner- 
Pillault (Paris) and J. Oehlke (Eberswelde) for the opportunity to 
study types; G. van der Zanden for comments on the type of Osmia 
cataniae; E. Asensio and W. Hanson for reviewing the manuscript. 
Summary 
A new species of Protosmia Ducke reared from trap-nest stems in 
Spain, P. asensioi, is described. It is compared with P. minutula 
(Perez), (— Osmia cataniae Strand, new synonymy), P. decipiens 
(Benoist), P. limbata (Benoist), and P. pulex (Benoist), all new 
combinations. This group of closely related species is distinguished 
from typical Protosmia. 
