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 7 mm.; head and thorax green, abdomen piceous, maculae bright yellow; length of face slightly greater than distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; vertex rather broad, lateral ocelli slightly nearer its rounded hind margin than to eyes; foveae narrow, rather deep and distinct; mandibles yellow basally, becoming ferruginous at tip; labrum entirely dark; clypeus piceous, with a median, longitudinal, yellow stripe and a pair of small, subapical, lateral, yellow spots; facial maculae quite extensive, extending narrowly along inner margin of eyes to level of antennae; scape entirely dark, flagellum testaceous beneath, piceous above; lower portion of face and cheeks somewhat shining, punctures fine, very shallow and indistinct, well separated but hardly sparse on face, cheeks nearly impunctate, upper portion of face tessellate and impunctate; pubescence of head and thorax short, thin, sparse, whitish below, becoming more yellowish above; posterior margin of pronotum with a pair of rather large, yellow maculae laterally, tubercles yellow, thorax otherwise dark olive-green; tegulae yellowish-hyaline, with a rather large yellow spot anteriorly; wings subhyaline, veins and stigma brownish to testaceous, margin of stigma somewhat darker; legs mostly dark, femora narrowly yellow apically, front tibiae yellow anteriorly and mid tibiae toward the base anteriorly; scutum and scutellum dull, tessellate, punctures exceedingly minute and obscure, hardly visible; pleura dull and tessellate above, becoming somewhat shining below, minutely and very obscurely punctate; abdominal terga 1-4 with lateral yellow maculae, distinctly separated medially, integument rather dull, without distinct punctures.
MALE—Length 6 mm.; head and thorax green, abdomen brownish-piceous, maculae bright yellow; length of face somewhat greater than distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; vertex rather broad, lateral ocelli slightly nearer its hind margin than to- eyes;. foveae short, but rather broad; mandibles yellow, becoming ferruginous at extreme tips; labrum yellow; clypeus yellow except for a pair of very small, lateral, dark spots; facial maculae large and conspicuous, obliquely, truncate above at level of antennae; scape yellow anteriorly, piceous posteriorly, flagellum testaceous beneath, becoming piceous above; lower portion of face somewhat shining, punctures very shallow and obscure, well separated, cheeks somewhat shining, with minute and indistinct punctures, upper part of face tessellate and impunctate; pubescence of head and thorax very short, thin, entirely pale, somewhat yellowish above; pronotum with a pair of small, lateral, yellow maculae, and tubercles yellow, thorax otherwise dark olive-green; tegulae testaceous posteriorly, becoming darker anteriorly; wings subhyaline, veins and stigma brownish to testaceous, margin of stigma somewhat darker; femora and tibiae mostly piceous posteriorly, yellow anteriorly, front and mid tarsi entirely yellow, hind tarsi darker; scutum and scutellum finely tessellate, punctures hardly evident; pleura dull above, becoming somewhat shining below, without distinct punctures; abdominal terga 1-5 with lateral, transverse, yellow maculae, rather widely separated medially except on the 1st, integument somewhat shining, with scattered, minute and obscure punctures; sternum 6 broadly and shallowly incurved apically; sternum 7 with a rather deep, rounded, median emargination apically, sides acute apically; sternum 8 rather broadly rounded apically; gonostyli rather slender, slightly curved, compressed, slightly exceeded by the narrow, elongate penis valves, cuspis and digitus of volsellae rather short, nearly equal in length, the gonocoxites produced apically to form rather broadly rounded lobes.
DISTRIBUTION—New Brunswick to Georgia, west to Minnesota and Mississippi; July to October.
FLOWER RECORDS—Aster, Euthamia, Monarda and Solidago. Robertson (1929) records this species also on Bidens, Boltonia, Eupatorium and Lycopus.
Perdita octomaculata terminata is a western form described by Cockerell (1922, Amer. Mus. Novitates 33, P. 8). He based the distinction on the paler markings on the abdomen of the female, and in the presence of a supraclypeal maculation in the male. There is a considerable range of variation with respect to this character in the male, occasional specimens collected in the East having more or less well developed supraclypeal marks, and in consequence there is some doubt concerning the validity of this subspecies
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