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Extracted from: TImberlake P. H., (1958). 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 III. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles 1958, Volume 14, No. 5, pp. 303-410, plates 4-15. Although the type of primula was collected on the desert near Indio at the last of April, the colorational characters resemble those of the montane species rivalis and swezeyi, and the characters of the aedeagus would place it as close to those species as to any others except f oleyi. Male.—Head and thorax dark blue-green, the frons more yellowish green. Mandibles except reddish tips, labrum, and nearly entire face below level of antennae bright yellow; clypeus with the usual pair of dark dots; subantennal marks margined with black below; lateral marks about twice as high as wide, obliquely truncate at upper end, hardly reaching above level of antennae, with the green of frons intruding slightly between them and subantennal plates on each side of face. Cheeks entirely dark. Pronotum dark, with a small yellow spot on posterior corners of disk, and the tubercles broadly yellow. Abdomen mainly dark brownish fuscous above, the first tergite entirely dark; next three tergites with a narrow yellow band, closer to the base than apex, narrowly interrupted medially, and that on tergite 2 broadly interrupted on each side; yellow band on tergites 5 and 6 about as broad as the dark band less the apical depression, and both slightly notched medially behind. Venter of abdomen pale yellowish, the first segment entirely brown, and narrow brownish bands present at junction of following segments. Legs yellow, the coxae fuscous except at apex, the posterior side of front and middle femora and tibiae and about half of anterior side of middle tibiae brown, the dorsal side and half of the posterior side of hind femora, hind tibiae except beneath, and hind tarsi brown or brownishfuscous. Antennae brownish fuscous, the flagellum brownish yellow beneath, becoming clearly yellow toward base, and the underside of pedicel and scape broadly yellow. Tegulae testaceous hyaline with a yellowish base. Wings strongly dusky hyaline, the nervures and stigma brown, the subcosta and margins of stigma more fuscous. Head slightly broader than long. Mandibles moderately stout, tapering, and barely reaching the far margin of proboscidial fossa. Facial foveae faint and about twice as long as wide. Frons densely, almost granular tessellate and opaque, but the lower part of each side between the fovea and antennal socket somewhat shining and with close fine punctures. Mesonotum polished and rather remotely punctured. Pubescence tinged with ochreous, unusually long and dense on cheeks, front coxae, and mesosternum, and shorter, thin, and erect on mesonotum. Subgenital plate somewhat less than twice as long as wide, with the lateral margins slightly incurved and the apex a little rounded. Parameral lobes of aedeagus strongly bulging outward at apex and the dorsal part overlying most of the inferior part in dorsal view, and each lobe about as broad as long in lateral view; fused body of sagittae moderately wide and subangularly narrowed before the subacute apex as seen from above. Length, 5.6 mm.; anterior wing, 3.9 mm. One male (holotype), 6 miles northwest of Indio (Highway 99), Biverside County, California, on Melilotus, Apr. 30,1949 (E. G. Linsley, J. W. MacSwain, and Ray F. Smith), in the collection of the Citrus Experiment Station, Biverside.
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