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Andrena morrisonella Viereck, 1917
Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Andrenidae   Andrena
Subgenus: Scrapteropsis

Andrena morrisonella, Mid-Atlantic Phenology
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Andrena morrisonella, Mid-Atlantic Phenology

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Andrena morrisonella FEM CFP comp
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Andrena morrisonella FEM CFP comp
Andrena morrisonella, f, back, Talbot Co, MD
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Andrena morrisonella, f, back, Talbot Co, MD

Andrena morrisonella, f, face, Talbot Co, MD
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Andrena morrisonella, f, face, Talbot Co, MD
Andrena morrisonella, female, face
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Andrena morrisonella, female, face
Overview
Reprinted with permission of the American Entomological Society from: LaBerge, W. E. 1971b. A revision of the bees of the genus Andrena of the Western Hemisphere. Part IV. Scrapteropsis, Xiphandrena, and Rhaphandrena. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 97: 441-520.

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This species of dubious status has been confused in collections with A. imitatrix, A. ilicis and A. fenningeri. Some of the records reported in the literature as morrisonella apply to one or another of these three species and it is difficult to tell to which they belong without reference to the specimens cited.

A. morrisonella is most closely related to A. imitatrix from which it can be readily distinguished by the propodeal corbicula lacking plumose hairs anteriorly and having only simple internal hairs. A few other characteristics tend to separate morrisonella from imitatrix but none are as conclusive as the corbicular character. The male of morrisonella is still undescribed, although Knerer and Atwood (1964) report having taken males associated with females in Ontario. The morrisonella females can be distinguished from ilicis females by the broader head and lack of tergal pubescent fasciae and from fenningeri females by the tergal sculpturing as described below and in the diagnosis of the latter.

The sporadic occurrence of A. morrisonella and its closeness to A. imitatrix leads one to suspect that it may be merely a variant which appears relatively rarely throughout most of the range of imitatrix. As intermediate forms are not available and as no series of females collected at the same time show variation leading to morrisonella, this hypothesis is rejected for the present. Another possibility is that morrisonella females represent hybrids between imitatrix and one of the other related species, perhaps A. ilicis. This hypothesis is also rejected on the grounds that the morrisonella characteristics are not really intermediate between imitatrix and any other species. It is deemed best to continue to recognize morrisonella as a distinct species until such time as more evidence might make an alternative hypothesis more tenable.

FEMALE. MEASUREMENTS AND RATIOS. — N = 20; length, 8-10 mm; width. 2.5-3.5 mm; wing length, M = 3.21 ± 0.093 mm; FL/FW, M = 0.97 ± 0.074; FOVL/FOVW, M = 2.94 ± 0.054.

INTEGUMENTAL COLOR. — Black except as follows: mandible with apical third to half rufescent; flagellar segments 2-10 reddish-brown below; wing membranes hyaline, veins brown to reddish-brown, pterostigma brown; terga 1-4 with apical areas rufescent and extremely narrowly hyaline marginally: distitarsi often rufescent, hind basitarsi and tibiae rarely red as in imitatrix (only in holotype among specimens studied).

STRUCTURE. — Antennae, eyes, mandibles, malar space and galea as in imitatrix, Maxillary palpus as in imitatrix but segmental ratio about 0.9: 1.0: 0.9: 0.9: 0.8: 0.9. Labial palpus as in imitatrix but ratio about 1.0: 0.7: 0.6: 0.4 Labrum as in imitatrix but process abruptly narrowed in apical half so that apically it is usually less than half as broad as basally and often much less. Clypeus and supraclypeal area as in imitatrix. Genal area as in imitatrix but laterally rugulae usually absent except near mandibular base and under surface of head with rugulae indistinct or absent except those along hypostomal carinae which turn inwards as in imitatrix. Face above antenna1 fossae and facial foveae as in imitatrix.

Thoracic structure and sculpturing as in imitatrix except as follows: propodeum with lateral surfaces often with short irregular rugulae in posterior third; hind tibiae narrow, broadest at apex (distinctly narrower than in imitatrix).

Terga shiny, sculptured as in moderately punctate imitatrix females, each tergum just basad of apical areas with a narrow zone of rather sparse punctures. Pygidial plate and sterna as in imitatrix.

VESTITURE. — Generally white to cinereous, dorsum of thorax usually yellow or pale ochraceous. Thoracic dorsum with moderately long, barbed hairs. Propodeal corbicula incomplete, without plumose hairs anteriorly, interior with long simple hairs. Trochanteral flocculus well developed but hairs sparse; tibial scopal hairs simple. Terga 1-4 without distinct pale apical fasciae, sparse hairs present but not at all hiding surfaces.



Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1960. Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 141.

FEMALE. — Length 10 mm.; clypeus only slightly convex, projecting about one-third below suborbital line, smooth and shining between rather coarse, close but shallow punctures, with an indistinct, median, impunctate line; facial foveae quite broad, occupying above about two-thirds of space between eyes and ocelli, only slightly narrowed below, covered with whitish tomentum; space between margin of vertex and lateral ocelli subequal to their diameter; cheeks very slightly broader than eyes, rounded posteriorly, rather dull, punctures very fine and close; malar space very short; basal segment of flagellum considerably shorter than 2nd and 3rd combined; process of labrum quite small, subtriangular, the apex narrowly rounded; pubescence of head, thorax and legs whitish, becoming somewhat yellowish on dorsum of thorax; scutum rather dull, deeply, distinctly and quite closely and coarsely punctate, punctures somewhat more widely separated near middle posteriorly, those on scutellum about equally coarse, somewhat more scattered and irregular, the surface shining; pleura finely and shallowly rugose anteriorly and above, becoming more smooth and tessellate posteriorly; dorsal area of propodeum oblique, triangle rather finely and irregularly striate; propodeal corbicula very short and poorly developed, without a distinct anterior fringe, whitish; trochanteral floccus rather thin but somewhat elongate, whitish; hind tibiae narrow, apex only very slightly broader than basitarsi, scopa rather dense, hairs rather elongate, simple, whitish, becoming somewhat brownish toward base; fore and mid basitarsi only very slightly narrower than their respective tibiae; 2nd submarginal cell considerably shorter than 3rd, receiving 1st recurrent about one-fourth from apex; abdominal terga smooth and shining between fine, regular and rather close punctures, apical impressed area shallow, quite narrow, occupying medially hardly one-third length of disc, becoming yellowish-hyaline along rims, discal pubescence thin, short, erect and pale, forming very thin and inconspicuous whitish apical fasciae toward sides of terga 2-4, tergum 5 with a brownish apical fimbria.

DISTRIBUTION. — Minnesota to the New England states, south to Georgia; April to July.

FLOWER RECORDS. — Crataegus, Gypsophila, Ilex, Malus, Prunus, Rubus and Salix.

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Polycitoridae  Salix sp @ BBSL (11)

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