머리뿔가위벌을 사과에 더욱 효과적으로 사용하기 위하여 중생종 ‘홍로’와 만생종 ‘후지’에서 머리뿔가위벌의 영소활동과 화분매개효과를 조사하였다. 그 결과, ‘후지’에서의 영소활동이 ‘홍로’보다 2.5배 많았다. 영소율과 증식률에서 ‘후지’가 ‘홍로’ 보다 각각 1.5배, 3.8배 높았다. 품종 에 따른 화분매개효과를 조사한 결과, 중심화결실률에서 ‘후지’가 ‘홍로’보다 1.6배 높았다. 과실의 품질에서 사축과율은 ‘후지’가 ‘홍로’보다 2.5배 낮았고, 사과종자의 수는 1.9배 많았다. 이에 대한 원인을 밝히기 위해 개화기 기상환경과 머리뿔가위벌의 활동량에 대한 상관관계를 분석한 결과, 머리뿔가위벌의 활동에 영향을 미치는 주된 요소는 온도로 나타났다 (R2 = 0.578). ‘후지’(평균 17.4 ~ 최고 24.1°C)의 개화기 기온은 ‘홍로’(평균 12.5 ~ 최고 20.2°C)보다 4 ~ 5°C 높았기 때문에 ‘후지’에서 영소활동과 화분매개효과가 ‘홍로’보다 큰 것으로 생각된다. 따라서 조생종 ‘홍로’에서는 머리뿔가위벌보다 기상환경에 영향을 적게받는 뒤영벌과 같은 화분매개곤충을 사용하는 것이 권장되며, 만생종 ‘후지’에서는 머리뿔가위벌의 사용이 가능할 것으로 판단된다. 본 연구는 사과 재배 농가에게 사과의 안정적인 생산을 위한 중요한 정보로 사용될 수 있다. 아울러 기후변화에 인하여 머리뿔가위벌의 화분매개활동이나 증식률이 변할 수 있다는 결론은 식생과 곤충상에 변화에 대한 근거로 활용할 수 있을 것이다.

The nesting behavior, reproduction, fruit set and shape of O. cornifrons varied significantly with the released sex ratio of O. cornifrons. A female : male sex ratio of 1 : 2 was resulted in a 3.4 to 6.7 fold higher than other sex ratio in a nesting behavior. A ratio of 1 : 2 resulted in a 1.2-fold nesting rate, which was slightly higher than other nesting rates. Releasing only males resulted in a 2.4-fold greater amount of fruit set in non-pollinated sites. A sex ratio of 1 : 2 gave a slightly higher shape index and a 1.2 to 1.6-fold lower asymmetric index than other sex ratios. There was no significant difference between female release numbers in fruit set, and 100 to 200 females gave a slightly higher shape index than 400 females. Thus, we determined that 200 females should be released per 2,000㎡ and that the sex ratio of females to males should be 1 : 2.

We collected four species of Osmia spp. consisting of O. cornifrons, O. pedicornis, O. taurus and O. satoi in Yeongwol, Bonghwa and Yechon locations. O. pedicornis was the dominant species, which accounts for 59.6% to 76.4% in the three locations. The sex ratio of Osmia spp. were from 1:1 to 1: 2.8 in O. cornifrons and from 1:2.8 to 1: 5.5 in O. pedicornis. The sex ratio of O. cornifrons and O. pedicornis was different in 3 locations. The female and male cocoons of O. cornifrons were the long elliptical-shaped and grey-brown color. The female and male cocoons of O. pedicornis were the long elliptical-shaped and polished dark-brown color. In both species of O. cornifrons and O. pedicornis, the cocoon size of the females was significantly larger than that of the male. Between those two species, the latter had a relatively bigger size than the former.

Serine protease inhibitors play a critical role in physiological processes and immune responses by regulating serine protease activities. Here we describe the molecular cloning and antimicrobial activities of a serine protease inhibitor from the mason bee, Osmia cornifrons (OcSPI). OcSPI consists of 405 amino acid residues and contains a potential reactive center loop (RCL) region in its C-terminus. Recombinant OcSPI was produced as a 64-kDa glycoprotein in baculovirus-infected insect cells and exhibited inhibitory activity against chymotrypsin. Additionally, OcSPI demonstrated inhibitory activity against microbial serine proteases, such as subtilisin A and proteinase K, but not against tissue plasminogen activator, thrombin, or plasmin. Recombinant OcSPI bound directly to Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Beauveria bassiana and exhibited antimicrobial activity against both bacteria and fungi. Our results demonstrated the antimicrobial functions of OcSPI and suggest a role for OcSPI in the immune response of O. cornifrons.

Osmia cornifrons is a cavity-nesting solitary species used as an apple pollinator in Korea. To elucidate the developmental characteristics of O. cornifrons, we investigated its development from the egg to adulthood, including a dormant prepupal phase and mating through indoor rearing (25 °C, 65% R.H.). The egg durations of the female and male bees were 3.6 ± 0.8 days and 3.1 ± 1.3 days, respectively. During larval development, the head widths of the 1st to 5th instars ranged from 0.7 ± 0.1 mm to 1.3 ± 0.1 mm. The peak of the growth in head width was the 2nd instar. The larval lengths ranged from 3.7 ± 0.6 mm to 13.6 ± 1.3 mm. The peak of growth was the 4th instar. The larval weights ranged from 4.5 ± 1.2 mg to 78.3 ± 16.1 mg. The peak of growth was the 3rd instars. The total larval durations of from the 1st to 5th instars for the females and males were 14.0 ± 6.0 days and 13.2 ± 5.8 days, respectively. The spinning durations of the females and males were 2.2 ± 0.7 days and 2.3 ± 0.8 days, the prepupation durations were 55.5 ± 5.9 days and 55.8 ± 2.9 days, and the pupation durations were 26.4 ± 2.1 days and 25.3 ± 2.3 days, respectively. The average longevity of the female adults and male adults was 21.8 ± 8.7 days and 24.4 ± 12.4 days, respectively. The total duration of from the egg to an adult bee of the O. cornifrons females and males was 123.5 days and 124.1 days, respectively. Mating consisted of the three following phases: the precopulatory (courtship and attempting copulation), copulation and postcopulatory phases. The mating times of the precopulatory, copulation and postcopulatory phases were 159.6 ± 288.9, 8.4 ± 7.1, 12.9 ± 4.5, and 198.8 ± 69.8 seconds.

The Osmia cornifrons plays an important role in pollinating fruit trees, such as apple trees. To better understand diapause and oviposition in O. cornifrons, we investigated the correlation between the ovarian development and secretion level of OcVg protein in hemolymph. During ovarian development in wintering the number of oocytes progressively increased in comparison with the length of the ovaries and the oocytes. After emergence, the oocyte and ovary sizes developed until 6 days after emergence and declined after 6 days, but the number of oocytes decreased gradually. The secretion level of OcVg protein in hemolymph revealed that during wintering, the secretion level increased from 1 month to 2 months and then stagnated after 2 months. After diapause, the secretion level increased gradually until day 6 of the newly emerged adult from cocoon stage, and thereafter gradually declined, remaining detectable until day 30 of the adult stage. The correction analysis between ovarian development and OcVg secretion level in hemolymph found that in wintering, the number of oocytes was positively correlated to OcVg secretion level. After diapause, the ovary and first oocyte lengths and the number of oocytes showed significant changes in OcVg secretion level and positively correlated with OcVg secretion level, respectively. These results suggest that there is a significant interaction between ovarian development and the secretion level of OcVg protein and the pattern of ovarian development and secretion of OcVg protein are stage-specific in the O. cornifrons female.

Osmia cornifrons plays a major role in the pollination of orchards, but basic information on vitellogenin and the oocyte development is limited. To better understand vitellogenin in hymenopteran insects, we cloned a cDNA encoding vitellogenin from the hornfaced bee O. cornifrons. O. cornifrons vitellogenin cDNA contains 5477 bp with an open reading frame of 1,783 amino acid residues, and has a predicted molecular mass of approximately 200.21 kDa and a pI of 6.55. O. cornifrons vitellogenin possesses four consensus (RXXR/S) cleavage sites and has conserved DGXR and GL/ICG motifs in the C-terminus. The deduced amino acid sequence of the O. cornifrons vitellogenin cDNA showed a 66% identity with Megachile rotundata, 53% to Apis mellifera, 51% to Bombus ignitus, and 42%-30% with other hymenopteran insect vitellogenins. Phylogenetic analysis showed that O. cornifrons vitellogenin clustered with vitellogenins from Megachildae, Apidae, Vespidae, and Formicidae species but not with those from Pteromalidae, Aphelinidae or Ichneumonidae species.

Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris is widely used to pollinate various crops, especially tomato, in greenhouses. Mason bee, Osmia cornifrons, which is using as apple pollinator. Here we investigated characteristics on pollinating activity of B. terrestris and O. conifrons at different weather conditions in apple orchard. The foraging activity of O. conifrons was more sensitive than that of B. terrestris at weather conditions including temperature, illumination intensity and wind velocity. The pollinating activity of O. conifrons was very low than that of B. terrestris at a low temperature, cloudy, rainy and windy weather. Therefore, Our results indicated that B. terrestris was suitable for apple pollinator than O. conifrons, especially in low temperature and bad weather.

Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris is widely used to pollinate various crops, especially tomato, in greenhouses. Mason bee, Osmia cornifrons, which is using as apple pollinator. Here we investigated characteristics on pollinating activity of B. terrestris and O. conifrons at different weather conditions in apple orchard. The foraging activity of O. conifrons was more sensitive than that of B. terrestris at weather conditions including temperature, illumination intensity and wind velocity. The pollinating activity of O. conifrons was very low than that of B. terrestris at a low temperature, cloudy, rainy and windy weather. Therefore, Our results indicated that B. terrestris was suitable for apple pollinator than O. conifrons, especially in low temperature and bad weather.

Pollinating insects function significantly in structuring ecosystem as well as agricultural production. Among the variety of pollinators, Osmia cornifrons is one of the important pollinators in apple orchards. Unlike honey bees, O. cornifrons is able to pollinate at low temperature that facilitates its wide commercial use. The female O. cornifrons in nature lay their eggs to the interior of the bamboo reeds where they spend their larval and pupal stage throughout the summer and during fall they overwinter as adult. The adult bee emerges from the overwintering cocoon in the spring seasons. Since the complete synchrony with flowering period is critical, farmers collect and store the dormant state of O. cornifors in cold storage and expose them in due time to outdoor temperatures for their emergence, pollination activity can be performed. However, information on biological and ecological requirements for the emergence of overwintering adults are rarely reported. We carried out the experiments on temperature dependent adult emergence and constructed the emergence model based on developmental rate and distribution. Parameters were estimated from linear model and weibu

We investigated nesting and foraging behavior of Korean mason bees, Osmia cornifrons Radoszkowski, during apple orchard pollination. When O. cornifrons was nesting, the oviposit and store pollens were taken an average 118.54±15.88 second and constructing cell partition was an average 109.33±62.09 second. At foraging, collecting pollens was timed at an average 699.89±81.87 second, and carrying mud was measured an average 464.88±151.17 second. Nesting and foraging behavior of O. cornifrons were influenced by weather conditions, especially, temperature, luminance and wind. When the luminance was more than 20,000lux and temperature was more than 20℃, O. cornifrons was more actively nesting and foraging. But, nesting and foraging of O. cornifrons were rapidly dropped when the wind blew at the speed more than 5m/s. The correlation analysis showed that foraging behavior is weak positive correlation with luminance, temperature and nesting. On the other hand, there is negative correlation between wind and the behavior of O. cornifrons. The most effective factor was luminance among the factors affecting the weather condition by regression analysis. Therefore, if weather conditions is low luminance, low temperature and strong wind, it will be better not to use O. cornifrons during apple pollination.

In order to improve mass rearing methods of hornfaced bee, Osmia cornifrons, in different field condition, a series of studies were conducted in apple orchard in Geochang province, eco-park in Suwon and botanical park in Yongin. 1,000 individuals and 2,000 individuals of Osmia cornifrons were released apple orchard and eco-park and botanical park respectively. Nesting rate of Osmia conifrons was most effective in case of releasing in botanical park in Yongin with 38.2% and lowest in eco-park in Suwon with 21.7%. And also number of cocoons nested in bamboo tube traps was highest in botanical park in Yongin with 3,494 individuals. Sex ratio in 3 different areas was also most effective with 58:42 in botanical park, 50:50 in apple orchard and lowest with 43:57 in eco-park. Nesting activity was shown starting point in 20th day, peak point in 38th day and ending point in 46th day after releasing of adults. This result shows nesting efficacy in botanical park designed with various species of plant sources pollinating insect, Osmia cornifrons, to increase the multiplication rate in field condition is more effective than other areas. General type of nest shows same tendency in efficacy of nesting rate compared with specific type of nest designed with dark thick cover in apple orchard. But it's result needs some further examination in same condition.

The mason bee (Osmia cornifrons Radoszkowsky) is an excellent pollinator of apple. To understand geographic genetic variation of the species and relationships among populations sequenced a portion of mitochondrial COI gene, which corresponds to “DNA Barcode” region (658 bp) from 81 individuals collected over eight localities in Korea. The sequence data were used to investigate genetic diversity within populations and species, geographic variation within species, phylogeographic relationship among populations, and phylogenetic relationship among haplotypes. Summarized, overall moderate to low genetic diversity within populations and species was characteristic, concordant with the high potential to disperse of O. cornifrons in Korea. Although two populations were genetically subdivided from the remaining localities, no clear regional bias was observed. Overall, high rate of gene flow among localities and low FST was characteristic considering other relevant studies that investigated population genetic structure of other insects occurring in Korean peninsula.