Nomada festiva - Notes regarding the type specimen and the species status in general and some notes about its description.
The type specimen is at the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences collection, is a female, and is in good shape, other than a right rear leg missing and glued to a label listing "N.J." as the collecting locality. Cresson, in his description, notes only the single specimen from New Jersey. In Mitchell's species account in "Bees of the Eastern United States" he lists specimens from New Jersey as well as Massachucetts, but does not list any numbers with them. I have been unable to find the Massachusetts specimens nor the specimens listed in Discoverlife from New York. We would be interested in anyone with labeled material for N. festiva (sdroege@usgs.gov).
Mitchell's description is fairly representative of the type, but the following notes modify or augment what he wrote...
Head, clypeus - Very noticably bulging and mounded approaching what might be found on a typical Eucera species. I am unaware of another Nomada with such a distinctive, projecting, and mounded clypeus. Head, Hypostomal Cavity - The carina lining the lateral borders of the cavity is quite tall, projecting above the surface of the underside of the head farther than any other Nomada I am aware of and gradually increasing in height as the carina moves toward the mandibles. Head, Supraclypeus - Yellow markings are uneven, smudgy and mixed with brown and restricted to the lower third of the segment. Abdomen, Tergites, Yellow Markings - T1, None, T2 Markings forming a band with short gap in the center, T3 Markings forming a band with a large gap in the center, T4 Markings forming nearly a complete band with very short gap between bands, T5 Ditto. Abdomen, Sternites, Yellow Markings - S1,2,5 with none, S3 and S4 with bright yellow band across but with boundaries not well defined. Abdomen, Pseudopygidial Area - Would not quite characterize it as "narrow" as mentioned by Mitchell, but not remarkable in any particular way.
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 9 mm.; lateral ocelli subequally distant from margin of vertex and each other; cheeks somewhat more than half width of eyes, posterior margin strongly carinate; shorter side of basal segment of flagellum very slightly shorter than segment 2, median segments slightly longer than broad; mandibles rather robust, simple; wings subhyaline basally, becoming lightly infuscated apically and in marginal cells, with the usual three submarginal cells, 2nd and 3rd rather narrow but about equal anteriorly, veins testaceous to brownish, basal vein slightly basad of transverse median; tegulae shining between deep, distinct, rather fine and close punctures; posterior margin of scutellum deeply depressed medially; front coxae not spinose; apex of hind tibiae with no evident setae or bristles, only finely short pubescent; clypeus supraclypeal area below, lateral face marks, labrum, and base of mandibles, bright yellow, face marks ending abruptly at level of antennae, and lateral clypeal sutures infused with black; face, vertex and cheeks otherwise black; antennal scape bright yellow anteriorly, pedicel and basal segment of flagellum more testaceous, the following segments more piceous; pronotal collar, tubercles, tegulae, scutellum in large part, a pair of large maculae on posterior face of propodeum, and a small transverse sub- median mark on mesopleura, bright yellow, thorax otherwise black; front and mid coxae dark, the hind coxae with some yellow beneath, blackish above, femora testaceous in general, with some piceous basally, the tibiae and front and mid tarsi bright yellow, hind tarsi more testaceous basally, becoming yellow apically, spurs pale yellow; abdominal terga 1-5 with conspicuous, bright yellow maculations, that on tergum 1 a transverse, submedian and rather narrow band, tergum 2 with extensive yellow areas laterally, this somewhat narrowed medially, and narrowly interrupted at midline, the disc blackish apically; tergum 3 with a pair of rather widely separated, yellow maculations, and tergum 4 with more extensive lateral maculations which do not quite meet at mid-line, tergum 5 largely yellow, but with a narrow, median, dark area; abdominal sterna 1-4 more or less yellow basally, apical impressed rims largely reddish-hyaline; face above antennae, vertex and cheeks very coarsely, closely and deeply but distinctly punctate, punctures below antennae quite deep on each side, but supraclypeal area and clypeus very finely and closely punctate; scutum, scutellum and mesopleura very coarsely, closely and deeply punctate, becoming rugose on scutum laterally and on pleura above, contiguous on maculated area of scutellum, propodeum somewhat more finely but closely punctate posteriorly, punctures becoming very fine and irregular laterally, surface more or less shining and minutely punctate toward mid coxae, triangle impunctate but dull and tessellate; discs of abdominal terga 2-5 very finely, closely, deeply and distinctly punctate, much more minute across apical half of basal tergum, becoming more minute and obscure laterally and basally, punctures of the more apical terga becoming somewhat more coarse, deep and distinct toward apical margins, only the very narrow apical rims impunctate; pseudopygidium transverse, very narrow, forming the rather narrow apical margin of tergum densely covered with suberect, pale yellowish tomentum; pubescence extremely short sparse and obscure, hardly evident, pale where visible; sternum 5 apically a dense tuft of elongate, more or less c yellowish hairs that converge toward line.
DISTRIBUTION — Massachusetts New Jersey. No seasonal records have found.
Reprinted from: Cresson, E. T. 1863. On the North American species of the genus Nomada. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Phil. 2:289-290
Fimale. Head black, densely and confluently punctured, somewhat
depressed in front; clypeus prominent; the face on each side of the
clypeus, labrum. base of mandibles, and an irregular spot on the clypeus,
yellow. Antennae rather short; rufo-piceous, blackish above towards
the apex , scape in front yellow. Thorax rather coarsely and
densely punctured, black; collar, tubercles, teguh«, a transverse line
on the scutellum which is subbilobate, a round spot on each side of the
metathorax, and two obsolete spots on the pleura, yellow. Wings subhyaline,
apical margins clouded; nervures piceous. Legs: coxae and
trochanters black, slightly stained with ferruginous; anterior and intermediate
femora ferruginous and black, posterior femora almost
entirely black ;
tibiae and tarsi yellow varied with ferruginous ; posterior
tibiae witliin and the tarsi obfuscated. Abdomen finely punctured,
shinins, black ; an obsolete ferruo;inous stain on the middle of the first
segment above , a broad yellow fascia attenuated and interrupted in
the middle on the second segment ; a transverse yellow line on each
side of the third segment, and a yellow fascia, slightly interrupted in
the middle, on each of the fourth and fifth segments, that on the fourth
segment somewhat indented on each side posteriorly ; anus piceous ;
beneath blackish-pieeous, a dark ferruginous stain on the first and
second segments, a yellow fascia, attenuated in the middle, on the third
segment, and an obsolete, yellowish, transverse line on the fourth segment.
Length 4 lines.
Hah. New Jersey. One ? specimen. Collection of Mr. Edward
Norton.
This species resembles the $ of N. modesta n. sp.. but I think it is
distinct.
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