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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 9-10 mm.; dark blue, with blackish legs; face slightly longer than distance between eyes above; eyes somewhat convergent below; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and margin of vertex, slightly nearer to each other; clypeus convex, considerably produced apically, the broad margin nearly straight, very narrowly shining and substriate; median length of labrum about equal to basal width; mandibles 3-dentate (fig. 32); cheeks slightly broader than eyes; wings subhyaline basally, becoming lightly infuscated along apical margin, 2nd recurrent vein reaching 2nd submarginal cell much nearer apex than 1st does to base; tarsal segments simple and unmodified, mid and hind spurs piceous; pubescence entirely pale, rather short and thin in general, but more dense around antennae and wing bases, elongate on basal abdominal tergum, but very short, erect, entirely pale on discs of the following terga, becoming subappressed on tergum 6, scopa entirely white; punctures quite coarse, deep and distinct on vertex, only slightly separated, becoming finer and crowded on sides of face below, rather coarse and subcontiguous on clypeus, densely crowded on cheeks; punctures rather coarse and densely crowded over most of scutum and scutellum, pleura dull, punctures rather shallow, but contiguous throughout; lateral faces of propodeum somewhat shining, punctures hardly evident, posterior face tessellate, with scattered, shallow and obscure punctures, dorsal area more velvety, becoming very finely and obscurely substriate along upper margin; abdominal terga shining, punctures fine, rather close in large part, being only slightly separated in median area of the more basal terga, punctures becoming somewhat more coarse on 4 and 5, very fine and densely crowded over 6, apical margins very slightly depressed, finely punctate nearly to the rims.
MALE—Length 7-8 mm.; bluish-green; face slightly longer than distance between eyes above; eyes very slightly convergent below; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and each other, somewhat nearer margin of vertex; clypeus convex, considerably produced apically, apical margin nearly straight, with a sharply defined, polished, impunctate area; median length of labrum subequal to its basal width; mandibles bidentate; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; wings subhyaline, slightly infuscated toward apical margin, 2nd recurrent vein reaching 2nd submarginal cell considerably nearer apex than 1st does to base; tarsal segments simple and unmodified, anterior margin of hind basitarsus with a low, triangular tubercle near apical third, mid and hind spurs piceous; pubescence entirely whitish or rather strongly yellowish, quite copious over face, cheeks below, entire thorax and basal segment of abdomen, short but rather dense and erect on discs of terga 2-5, tending to form obscure, apical fringes on the more apical terga; punctures quite deep and distinct, slightly separated on vertex, becoming densely crowded below ocelli, very fine and dense on supraclypeal area and clypeus, shallow and rather coarse and irregular on cheeks; punctures rather fine and densely crowded on scutum anteriorly, becoming somewhat coarser posteriorly, but uniformly close, those on scutellum coarse, more distinct anteriorly, but becoming densely crowded around margin; pleura with subcontiguous, shallow punctures throughout, lateral faces of propodeum rather smooth and somewhat shining, posterior face dull and tessellate, with scattered, minute, shallow and obscure punctures, dorsal area more velvety, becoming very obscurely and finely substriate along upper margin; abdominal terga shining, punctures quite deep and distinct, only slightly separated medially on terga 1-3, more uniformly close across 4 and 5, 6 shining, with scattered, sparse, shallow and obscure punctures, apical margins of all shallowly, depressed, rather evenly and finely punctate except on the very narrow, apical rims; apical margin of tergum 6 with a rather broad, shallow, median emargination, 7 produced medially, with a deep, subtriangular emargination, resulting in a pair of subacute, triangular lobes; sternum 2 broadly outcurved apically, covering sternum 3 in large part, and base of 4, apical margin of 3 with a deep, median emargination, this largely filled with long, convergent setae (fig. 33), apical margin of 4 broadly outcurved, surface finely and quite uniformly setose across entire breadth, but median setae more elongate (fig. 34), 5-8 entirely retracted, submembraneous; penis valves of genital armature only slightly exceeded by the gonostyli, apex of gonostylus as shown (fig. 31).
DISTRIBUTION—New York and the New England states, south to Florida and Texas, February (in Florida) to June.
FLOWER RECORDS—Claytonia, Crataegus, Fragaria, Geranium, Ilex, Iris, Linaria, Lupinus, Oenothera, Pedicularia, Pentstemon, Polycodium, Rubus, Tephrosia, Toxicodendron, Trifolium, Vaccinium and Vicia. Michener (1947) records sandhouseae on Astragalus and Gaylussacia.
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