|
Extracted from: Timberlake P.H., (1962). A Revisional Study of the Bees of the Genus Perdita F. Smith, with Special Reference to the Fauna of the Pacific Coast (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) Part V. University of California Publications in Entomology Editors, Volume 28, No. 1, pp. 1-124.
The female of inornata is dark without markings and has been collected at flowers of Cowania, Agave, and Eriodictyon. The male is similar to other males of this group with much yellow on the head and "underside of the thorax, its cheeks are very broad with a small anterior process, and its mandibles are long, tapering, and acute.
Female.—Head and thorax dark green; labrum, clypeus, and supraclypeal area, black. Abdomen blaekish, without markings except in some specimens from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, which have an abbreviated and narrow yellow band as base of tergites 2 and 3. Legs blackish, tarsi more brownish, extreme apex of front femora and anterior side of front tibiae pale yellow. Antennae blackish, yellowish only at extreme base. Mandibles pale yellow on basal half, or less, shading into red at apex. Tegulae testaceous hyaline, with yellowish base. Wings whitish hyaline, nervures nearly colorless, stigma pale yellow, its margins and sub-costa tinged with pale brown.
Head rotund, as broad as long; face below antennae evenly convex from side to side. Proboscis moderately short; tip of galeae falling considerably short of base of stipites in repose. Mandibles with a small, blunt inner tooth, and reaching far margin of proboscidial fossa. Facial foveae separated from eye margin by somewhat less than their own width and reaching from level of upper margin of antennal sockets halfway to level of anterior ocellus. Pterostigma large, nearly as wide as first submarginal cell and widest beyond its middle; part of marginal cell beneath stigma somewhat longer than part beyond, with its truncation about as long as metacarpus. Pygidial plate about as long as its basal width, with sides converging to moderately narrow and rounded apex, which is generally only part exposed. Head and thorax tessellate and moderately dull, with minute, moderately close, and rather obscure punctures; clypeus shining and distinctly but sparsely punctured. Pubescence whitish, thin, and erect, denser on cheeks and underside of thorax, rather short and moderately coarse on mesonotum. Length: 4.5-5 mm.; anterior wing 3.5-4 mm.
Male,—Head and thorax dark green or blue-green. Undersurface of head and cheeks except posterior third, proboscis, mandibles except red tips, labrum, and face to level of foveae, bright yellow. Collar of pronotum more testaceous than yellow; posterior corners of disk, flanks of pronotum except dark line in crease of upper half, prosternum, mesosternum except upper border of episternum and a rounded mark (sometimes nearly obsolete) on pectus in front of middle coxae, and more or less broad lower border of flanks of propodeum, yellow. Abdomen fuscous or brownish fuscous above; venter and band at base of tergites 2 to 4 (or even to 6) yellow, but bands usually more or less narrow and often more or less concealed. Legs yellow, a streak on outer side of front and middle tibiae, upper margin of hind femora, hind tibiae except beneath, hind tarsi, and sometimes a streak on apical part of middle femora and spot on hind coxae, fuscous or brownish. Antennae yellow, outer side of pedicel brownish fuscous, and two to four of following joints brownish above. Tegulae and wings similar to those of female, but nervures more testaceous and margins of stigma and subcosta brown. Head subquadrate, somewhat broader than long; inner orbits parallel. Cheeks much broader than eyes, broadest at middle, sharply margined behind above middle and with small conical tubercle on margin anteriorly. Clypeus transverse, disk much broader than long, lateral extensions fully visible in frontal view, broad within, and ending bluntly next to base of mandibles. Lateral plates of face each nearly as wide as space between them. Subantennal plates almost as broad as long. Occipital cavity very broad and deep and nearly as wide as space between eyes at their summit. Mandibles tapering from base, very acute at apex, and each reaching nearly to base of other. Flanks of pronotum moderately deeply impressed, with posterior corners of disk subacute. Head and thorax minutely tessellate, with vertex and mesonotum slightly dullish; face impunctate; mesoscutum with widely spaced weak punctures. Pubescence whitish, erect, sparse on face and mesonotum and moderately dense on undersurface of head and thorax. Tergite 7 with narrow and truncate apex. Subgenital plate about one and one-half times as long as wide, sides nearly straight to rounded apex, and minutely pubescent across apical part of disk. Aedeagus similar to that of Tceiferi, but more elongate, parameral lobes more slender, and caulis more depressed. Length: 3.5-4 mm.; anterior wing, 3.1-3.4 mm.
|
