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Bombus fernaldae (Franklin, 1911) Psithyrus fernaldae Franklin, 1911; Psithyrus tricolor_homonym Franklin, 1911; Psithyrus wheeleri Bequaert and Plath, 1925

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© Photographer/source male front UGCA196032_01	© Photographer/source male front top UGCA196032_02
© Photographer/source male top UGCA196032_03	© Photographer/source male side UGCA196032_04
© Photographer/source male rear UGCA196032_05	© Photographer/source male rear tip UGCA196032_06
© Photographer/source female front UGCA196033_01	© Photographer/source female front top UGCA196033_02
© Photographer/source female top UGCA196033_03	© Photographer/source female side UGCA196033_04
© Photographer/source female rear UGCA196033_05	© Photographer/source female rear tip UGCA196033_06

Overview

Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152. FEMALE—Length 14.5-17 mm., breadth of abdomen 7-8.5 mm.; black, tibial spurs reddish-piceous; wings rather uniformly, lightly infuscated, veins brownish to piceous; pubescence of face and cheeks black, vertex with copious and elongate, yellow pubescence, with a few intermixed yellowish hairs just above antennae; thorax with long and copious, largely yellowish pubescence, but scutum with a median posterior patch of fuscous pubescence; pleura beneath and legs largely dark pubescent, but posterior fringe of front femora pale in part; pubescence of abdominal terga erect and copious, intermixed yellowish and fuscous on basal tergum, largely fuscous on terga 2 and 3, with some yellowish hairs along apical margin, and laterally also on 3, tergum 4 yellow pubescent, 5 black pubescent, 6 with only very short and inspicuous, appressed pubescence; clypeus shining, punctures fine, rather deep and distinct along lateral and upper margins, becoming very minute and sparse apically; labrum slightly excavated medially, the basal margin slightly produced on each side, apical margin rounded, rather strongly depressed; apex of mandible entire, outer face smooth and shining, punctures exceedingly minute and indefinite; malar space smooth and shining, length fully equal to basal width of mandible, about one-fourth length of eye; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and each other, somewhat more widely removed from margin of vertex; punctures of face and of vertex medially fine and close, vertex becoming more shining and more minutely and sparsely punctate laterally, a shining area adjacent to each lateral ocellus nearly impunctate; flagellum fully twice the length of the scape, its basal segment very slightly longer than segment 3, and 3 slightly longer than 2; scutum with a median, shining, impunctate space, punctures otherwise rather fine and close over most of thorax; sternum 6 elongate, produced beyond apex of the tergum, its tip somewhat down-curved, lateral margins very slightly elevated medially, the narrower apex densely, pale, short pubescent. MALE—Length 13-15 mm., breadth of abdomen 6-7 mm; black, tarsal segments becoming brownish-testaceous apically, mid and hind spurs brownish-piceous; wings lightly but quite uniformly infuscated, veins testaceous to piceous; pubescence of face and cheeks• entirely black, quite long and copious, vertex with elongate, copious, yellowish pubescence; thorax with long, copious, largely yellow pubescence but posterior half of scutum with copious, erect, black pubescence, that on venter fuscous in part; legs with intermixed light and dark hairs, the posterior fringes of femora and basitarsi largely pale; abdominal terga 1 and 4 with elongate, yellowish pubescence, 2 3, 5, and 6 with largely black pubescence, that on 7, and on 6 laterally, yellowish; clypeus very finely and closely punctate, rather dull; labrum shining, punctures minute and to some degree separated, apical margin only slightly depressed, broadly subtruncate, with a transverse, median line of erect black hairs separating the lower and upper surfaces; mandibles small but quite distinctly bidentate at apex, with a rather prominant fringe of elongate pale hairs below; malar space smooth and shining, with only exceedingly minute, well separated punctures, length equal to basal width of mandible; eye about four and one-half times longer; lateral ocelli slightly nearer eyes than to margin of vertex, subequally distant from eyes and each other; segments 1 and 3 of flagellum about equal in length, somewhat longer than segment 2 which is about as broad as long; sterna 7 and 8 and genital armature as shown (fig. 134). DISTRIBUTION — Widespread in Canada and the United States, from Alaska to California in the West, New Brunswick to North Carolina in the East, June to September. FLOWER RECORDS—Potentilla, Rubus and Trifolium. HOST—Plath (1934) suggests the possibility that Bombus perplexus is the host of fernaldae, but positive evidence is lacking.

Identification

Female - The last sternite elongated beyond tip of tergum, this slender projection down-curved

Names

Scientific source:       Discover Life Apoidea species guide, Ascher et al., 2007       Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Updated: 2009-11-21 01:58:39 gmt

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