Extracted from: Roberts, 1972. REVISION OF THE BEE GENUS AGAPOSTEMON. Agricultural Experimental Station. The University of Kansas.
The name of this species refers to the Baja California peninsula where
it is found.
The male holotype, the allotype and nine male paratypes are all labeled,
"Mgdlena Bay/Lower Cal./May 30, 1925//H. H. Keifer/Collector" and
are all in the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.
Distribution. In addition to the type locality above I have seen specimens
from the following localities: Ensenada (1 9 , 31 May; 1 $ , 24 June; 3 $ ,
30 Aug.), Camalu (1 2 , 23 June), 3 miles south of San Quintin (3 9 , 8-12
March), 20 miles west of San Augustine (1 S , 24 Sept.), and 20 miles north
of Mesquital (1 6 & 1 9, 27 Sept.), Baja California, Mexico; San Diego
(IS) and La Jolla (1 S ,16 July), California.
Diagnosis. The male may be distinguished from most species by its
lack of a prominent hind femoral tooth and by the black streak extending
from the base of the posterior surface of its hind femur to the apex of the
posterior surface of its hind tibia; and from A. mexicanus by the lack of
enlarged submarginal bristles medially on its 4th metasomal sternum (only
two to four submarginal bristles are present on each side). The female
may be distinguished from many species by its black metasoma, bright
green head and thorax, transverse yellow clypeal band, and rounded lateral
pronotal angle; from A. tyleri by the lack of a smooth shiny (with scattered
punctures) area centrally on its supraclypeal protuberance; from A. nasutus
by the absence of a creamy spot on the apex of its pronotal lobe; from A.
leunculus by the white to creamy pubescence (brown to black in A.
leunculiis) around the basitibial plate on its hind leg; from A. melliventris
by the finely rugulose dorso-medial region of its propodeum (rugose in
A. melliventris').
Description
male (Figs. 88-89, 157, 190, 205)
General coloration of head and mesosoma bright metallic green to blue-
green, metasoma banded with black and yellow. Head (Figs. 88-89):
pubescence white. (1) Labrum as in A. texanus but more obtuse apically.
(2) Clypeus as in A. melliventris but with transverse yellow band slightly
narrower and with medial enlargement only about l / 2 as great. (3-5) In-
terocular area, vertex and gen a as in A. melliventris but with sculpturing
slightly coarser. (6-7) Malar area and mandible as in A. melliventris. Antenna with scape and pedicel brown-black above and yellow below to
entirely brown-black; flagellum brown-black above, becoming pale amber to
yellow below. Mesosoma: pubescence white. (9-12) Pronotum, meso-
scutum, mesoscutellum and metanotum as in A. melliventris. (13) Mesepi-
sternum more coarsely rugose than metanotum (especially anteriorly). (14)
Metepisternum with interconnected horizontal carinulae, becoming rugose
posteriorly in some specimens. (15) Propodeum with propodeal carina
usually absent but may be visible as very weak carina dorsally; propodeal
shield very coarsely and shallowly rugose; dorsal area moderately rugose
laterally, becoming very finely and shallowly rugose medially; lateral area
coarsely and shallowly rugose posteriorly, becoming moderately finely rugose
anteriorly. (16) Wing as in A. melliventris but with veins darker brown.
(17) Tegula pale transparent amber with submarginal yellow band anteriorly
and posteriorly, and with strong metallic tints basally. (18) Fore leg with
coxa metallic green; trochanter brown-black with metallic green tints basally
and apical yellow spot anteriorly; femur yellow with broad brown-black
streak postero-dorsally extending from base almost to apex; tibia yellow
with brown-black streak ventrally; tarsus yellow. (19) Middle leg as fore
leg but with brown-black ventral streak on tibia extending to posterior sur-
face. (20) Hind leg (Fig. 157) as fore leg but with yellow spot on trochanter
ventral; with brown to brown-black streak on femur posterior, extending
to apex, and extending dorsally at apex; tibia with brown to brown-black
streak posterior and extending dorsally at base and apex. Femur without
distinct tooth and basitarsus without apical groove or basal ridge. Meta-
soma: (21) Terga 2-6 black with yellow band on basal l / z (usually
partially obscured by overlapping terga posteriorly) ; tergum 1 black with
yellow band centrally; terga 1-6 with posterior and ventro-lateral margins
transparent; tergum 7 with pygidium dark amber to brown-black. Pubes-
cence white, dark brown on postero-dorsal Y 2 of terga 1-4; moderately long,
becoming short and appressed dorsally on terga 1-4. (22) Sterna 2-5 yellow
with brown-black bands basally and anteriorly (these bands very narrow
on sternum 2, becoming progressively broader on posterior sterna until
yellow nearly absent on sternum 5), sternum 1 with strong metallic tints,
sternum 6 brown-black with small medial ridge in shallow depression on
apical Y 2 . Pubescence long and pale on exposed areas, sternum 4 with 2-4
large hooked bristles at each postero-lateral margin. (21) Genitalia (Figs.
190, 205) with medium-sized ventral lobe on gonocoxite fringed with hairs.
female (Figs. 65-66)
General coloration of head and mesosoma bright metallic green, meta-
soma black. Head (Figs. 65-66): as in A. melliventris but with transverse
band on clypeus narrower and bordered with brown-black, and with scape
entirely brown-black. Mesosoma: pubescence white, becoming creamy
on mesonotum and pronotum. (9-14) Pronotum, mesoscutum, mesoscutel-
lum, metanotum, mesepisternum and metepisternum as in A. melliventris.
(15) Propodeum with weak propodeal carina; propodeal shield with large
but very shallow rugae; dorsal area finely rugose laterally, becoming very
finely rugulose medially; lateral area with shallow, anastomosing horizontal
carinulae anteriorly, becoming shallowly rugose posteriorly. (16) Wing
as in 6 . (17) Tegula as in A. melliventris. (18-19) Pore and middle legs
with coxa dark brown tinged with metallic green; trochanter dark brown;
femur dark brown with yellow apically; tibia yellow with dark brown
streak ventrally; tarsus yellow. (20) Hind leg brown, coxa metallic green
dorsally. Metasoma: pubescence white. (21) Terga brown-black to
black. Pubescence moderately long, becoming short and appressed dorsally
on terga 1-4; dense tomentum on basal ! / 2 of terga 2-5 and on all but posterior
! / 3 of tergum 1. (22) Sterna brown-black to black; moderately long pubes-
cence on exposed areas.
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