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 9-10 mm.; length of face somewhat greater than distance between eyes above; eyes convergent below; malar space very short; facial foveae obscured by a covering of dense, yellowish tomentum; clypeus protruding about one-third below suborbital line, closely and finely punctate in large part, but the apical fourth shining and impunctate; punctures of face, vertex and cheeks above hidden by the dense plumose pubescence, lower portion of cheeks somewhat exposed and shining, with minute, rather close punctures; segments of flagellum brownish-piceous below, blackish above, segments about as long as broad, basal segment somewhat longer; pubescence of head and thorax pale yellowish, very dense, obscuring the surface except on venter of thorax and on clypeus and cheeks below; lateral angles of pronotum not produced, metapleural protuberance obscure, entirely black, obscured by dense tomentum; punctures of scutum beneath pubescence close and fine anteriorly, becoming slightly separated over median posterior area, scutellum somewhat more sparsely punctate and shining anteriorly; pleura closely and finely punctate above, punctures becoming somewhat more distinctly separated below; dorsal area of propodeum quite short, with regularly spaced, rather coarse striae, lateral faces rather smooth, covered with quite dense white tomentum, posterior face obscured by tomentum; front coxal spines short but well developed; legs testaceous, tarsi more yellowish; tegulae testaceous-hyaline; wings hyaline, veins and stigma yellowish-testaceous, 2nd submarginal slightly shorter than 3rd; abdominal terga almost completely covered with dense, pale yellow tomentum, obscuring the surface of the discs which show a few shallow, obscure, but close punctures where the surface is exposed, apical segment dark.
MALE—Length 7 mm.; face slightly longer than distance between eyes above; eyes convergent below; malar space about one-fourth as long as basal width of mandible; facial foveae inevident; clypeus protruding only slightly below suborbital line, finely, shallowly and closely punctate beneath the dense, pale pubescence, apical margin becoming almost impunctate; vertex somewhat shining, minutely and obscurely punctate; cheeks very minutely and closely punctate above, becoming more distinctly and sparsely punctate below where the surface is shining; segments of flagellum brownish-ferruginous beneath and toward apex above, more piceous toward base above, slightly longer than broad, basal segment blackish, somewhat shorter, only slightly longer than pedicel, scape ferruginous apically; pubescence of head and thorax entirely pale, cream-colored above, more whitish below, rather dense in general but not entirely obscuring the surface; lateral angles of pronotum acute but not spinose; metapleural protuberance distinct, narrowly rimmed with testaceous; legs largely testaceous, spurs pale yellowish; tegulae testaceous-hyaline; wings hyaline, veins and stigma testaceous; scutum finely but rather distinctly punctate, the punctures quite close over anterior half, becoming somewhat more widely separated posteriorly, those on scutellum slightly more coarse and quite close; pleura rather finely but closely and deeply punctate; dorsal area of propodeum rather short, with rather coarse parallel striae, lateral faces quite smooth but densely pubescent, posterior face more shining and thinly pubescent; basal abdominal tergum very minutely punctate, the punctures close apically but becoming more widely separated and scattered basally, discs of the following segments very closely, minutely and uniformly punctate, apical margins hyaline, with broad, dense, entire, cream-colored fasciae, discs with fairly evident, short, pale pile.
DISTRIBUTION—This species is western, reaching Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, with one somewhat doubtful record from Georgia. It is in flight through June, July, August and into September.
FLOWER RECORDS — According to Stephen this visits Petalostemon, having been collected on P. candidum, P. flavescens and P. oligophyllum.
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