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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 4 mm.; head and thorax
black, abdomen brownish-testaceous, more or
less suffused with piceous; head much broader
than long; eyes very slightly convergent
below; clypeus slightly conwx; labrum broadly
rounded, slightly broader than long, yellowish-
testaceous; mandibles with a slight, inner,
subapical tooth, brown-kstaceous, becoming
reddened at tip; antennae dark basally,
flagellum more brownish-ferruginous, the more
basal segments considerably broader than
long, becoming nearly as long as broad apically;
lateral ocelli slightly nearer to each other
than to eyes; face below ocelli shining, punctures
very minute but quite distinct, slightly
separated but not sparse, those on lower portion
of face obscured by whitish tomentum,
supraclypeal area rather dull, very finely and
rather closely punctate, punctures on clypeus
fine and rather close and obscure along upper
margin, becoming somewhat more distinct but
still very fine and rather sparse apically;
vertex between eyes and ocelli shining, punctures
exceedingly minute and obscure, rather
widely separated, hind margin obscurly roughened,
cheeks above somewhat shining, with
scattered, minute and rather indistinct punctures,
,lower surface smooth and shining;
wings lightly infuscated, with the usual three
submarginal cells, veins and stigma brownishtestaceous;
tegulae yellowish-hyaline; legs
brownish-testaceous; scutum and scutellum
shining, punctures on scutum minute and rather
widely separated but not sparse, somewhat
more sparse on scutellum; pleura dull,
finely rugose, hypoepimeral area smooth and
shining, with a few scattered, exceedingly
minute and obscure punctures; dorsal area of
propodeum rather broad, completely but rather
finely striate, lateral faces rather smooth
but dull, becoming rather coarsely rugosostriate
posteriorly, and posterior face with a
few irregular reticulations; abdominal terga
smooth and shining, basal tergum impunctate,
2nd and 3rd with minute and rather close
punctures over most of disc, becoming somewhat
more sparse apically, the apical margins
rather broadly impressed, yellowish-hyaline.
MALE-Length 4-5 mm.; head and thorax
black, abdomen feruginous, becoming blackened
apically; head slightly broader than long;
eyes very slight& convergent below; clypeus
rather broad, broadly conwx; mandibles
brownish-testaceous, tips becoming reddened;
antennae blackish, flagellum becoming brownish-
piceous beneath apically, segments 1 and
2 slightly broader than long, following segments
about as long as broad; lateral ocelli
subequally distant from eyes and each other;
lower half of face obscured by dense, white
tomentum, upper portion shining, very finely
but rather distinctly punctate, punctures
slightly separated, becoming minute and obscure
on vertex between eyes and ocelli where
the surface is shining, becoming obscurely
substriate posteriorly; cheeks shining, minutely
punctate, punctures rather close just back
of eyes, becoming more sparse posteriorly
and below, lower surface smooth and shining;
wings hyaline, with the usual three submarginal
cells, veins pale testaceous, stigma
more brownish-testaceous; tegulae yellowishhyaline;
legs piecous, tarsi more or less
brownish-testaceous; scutum and scukllum
shining, punctures very fine but rather distinct,
well separated but not sparse, evenly
distributed over most of scutum, those on scutellum
somewhat more widely separated; pleura
dull but quite smooth, rugose anteriorly but
becoming smooth and somewhat shining posteriorly,
hypoepimeral area shining, with a few,
minute and obscure punctures; dorsal area of
propodeum finely, irregularly and incompletely
striate, hind margin smooth and rounded, lateral
faces somewhat shining, rather smooth,
becoming substriate below, posterior face with
a few obscure reticulations; abdominal terga
sinooth and shining, basal tergum with a few
scattered, exceedingly minute punctures, 2nd
and 3rd minutely but more distinctly and
closely punctate over most of discs, apical margins
of all rather broadly impressed, entirely
irnpunctate, bright yellowish-hyaline; gonastyli
(fig. 117) barely attaining tips of penis
valves, slender and simple, very slightly dilated
apically, lower surface of gonocoxite narrowly
fringed with short pubescence.
DISTRIBUTION - Michigan, Ontario
and New York, south to North Carolina;
August to October.
FLOWER RECORDS-Chrysopsis and
Haplopappus.
There i s a strong resemblance of this
species to brachycephalus. The narrower
head in azctumnalis, with the more completely
striate dorsal area of the propodeum
will usually serve to distinguish it. Also, in
autumnalis the space between the upper
clypeal margin and the antenna1 fossa is
much greater than the diameter of the
fossa. In brachycephalus this space is very
little greater t h a n t h e fossal diameter. As
out in the original description, the pressed
distribution in both time and space is considerably
different, autumnalis being more
nor thern i n its range and flying during the late
summer and fall.
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