D I S C O V E R    L I F E   
Bee Hunt! Odonata Lepidoptera 
  HomeAll Living ThingsIDnature guidesGlobal mapperAlbumsLabelsSearch
  AboutNewsEventsResearchEducationProjectsStudy sitesHelp


Eucera speciosa (Cresson, 1878)
Melissodes speciosa Cresson, 1878; Melissodes dilecta Cresson, 1878; Synhalonia speciosa (Cresson, 1878); Synhalonia gillettei Cockerell, 1905; Synhalonia gillettei snoviana Cockerell, 1905; Synhalonia astragalina Cockerell, 1905; Tetralonia astragalina clarissima Cockerell, 1933

Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Apidae   Eucera
Subgenus: Synhalonia

Eucera speciosa FEM CF
© Copyright Laurence Packer 2014 · 7
Eucera speciosa FEM CF

Click on map for details about points.

Links
80x5 - 240x3 - 240x4 - 320x1 - 320x2 - 320x3 - 640x1 - 640x2
Set display option above.
Click on image to enlarge.
Eucera speciosa MALE mm x f
© Copyright Laurence Packer 2014 · 7
Eucera speciosa MALE mm x f
Identification
Extracted from: Timberlake P.H., (1969). A Contribution to the Systematics of North America Species of Synhalonia (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology Volume 57

S. speciosa is our largest and most elegant species. It has been confused in the past with hamata; eastern records of speciosa and dilecta belong to hamata, and Cockerell at one time believed that the proper name for hamata was dilecta. S. hamata is an eastern species that ranges from Virginia and Georgia to Texas and Colorado; speciose, on the other hand, ranges from South Dakota to Texas and west to Utah and Idaho, but apparently it does not occur in New Mexico or Arizona.

Female.—Black; small joints of tarsi ferruginous; claws piceous except at base; tibial spurs pale ferruginous. Clypeus sometimes with yellowish streak across anterior border. Tegulae bright amber, but fuscous at base. Wings strongly dusky (brownish), nervures ferruginous, subcosta black. Pubescence dense, more or less fulvo-ochraceous above, but more whitish beneath and on face. Hair of tergite 1 pale fulvo-ochraceous, or ochreous, and paler or whitish on each side at apex. Tergites 2 to 4 with a white band, that on tergite 2 broad, covering lateral margin, broadly receding from apical margin across middle, and leaving base narrowly black. Base of tergites 3 to 5 broadly black, the white bands apical, but that on tergite 3 narrow, sinuate, and narrowly removed from apical margin except at each side. Long, erect hairs overhanging apical band moderately numerous and only moderately dark and conspicuous. Apical band on tergite 5 white on each side but broadly dark brown in middle. Hair at each side of tergite 6 and on venter dark brown, but ventral fringes white on each side of segments 2 to 5. Hair of legs pale ochreous or whitish, but ferruginous on inner side of basitarsi, reddish at apex of hind femora, brownish or appearing fuscous in some lights on outer side of middle tibiae toward apex, and scopal hair of hind legs fulvous.

Head much broader than long, inner orbits parallel. Vertex weakly impressed on each side; lateral ocelli their distance apart from nearest eye and somewhat more than their diameter from occipital margin. Proboscis longer than usual, reaching a little beyond base of front coxae in repose; galeae minutely tessellate, dullish, and nearly hairless. Second submarginal cell generally longer than wide, and receiving recurrent nervure one-fourth, or less, of its length from apex. Clypeus dull, finely and densely rugoso-punctate, but punctures at base sometimes separated enough to form small interspaces. Frons and vertex dullish, with fine, dense punctures. Meso-notum moderately shining, with fine, well-impressed punctures and dense except somewhat separated on posterior middle. Abdomen minutely and very densely punctured, but apical de¬pression of tergite 1 bare and impunctate except far to each side, that on tergite 2 broadly and that on tergite 3 narrowly bare and impunctate across middle. Pygidial plate generally about as long as wide at base and narrowed about one-half to apex. Length about 16-18 mm, anterior wing 11.5-12.5 mm, width of abdomen 6.5-7 mm.

Male.—Black; small joint of tarsi ferruginous; tibial spurs testaceous. Tegulae and wings as in female. Labrum, clypeus, and usually small spot on base of mandibles pale yellow or creamy white; clypeal mark narrowly separated from margin of eye and more or less squarely notched on each side. Hair of vertex and thoracic notum ochreous or moderately light fulvous and paler or whitish on face and beneath. Hair of tergite 1 rather long, erect, and more or less ochreous or pale fulvous. Tergites 2 to 6 successively less broadly banded with white; band on tergite 2 covering disk but the segment sometimes showing black on each side at base and becoming broadly bare or with some black hair across apex; bases of following segments successively more broadly black and narrowly bare or with black hair across apex on tergites 3 and 4. Abdomen in type of clarissima and in males from Cornish, Utah, distinctly more shining and with white hair of bands much thinner. Hair of venter brownish or fuscous, except for fringe of long hair on each side of segments 2 to 5. Hair of legs white, but ferruginous on inner side of basitarsi.

Head much broader than long; inner orbits of eyes slightly divergent above. Vertex moderately impressed on each side; lateral ocelli less than their distance apart from nearest eye and some¬what more than their diameter from occipital margin. Oculoclypeal space linear. Antennae reaching apex of tergite 1, flagellum rather slender and compressed; joint 3 on short side about as long as wide and one-fourth as long as joint 4. Clypeus closely and shallowly punctured. Frons and vertex dullish, densely punctured. Mesonotum moderately shining and punctured about as in female. Abdomen moderately shining, minutely and densely punctured, with apical margin of tergites 1 to 5 rather narrowly bare and impunctate. Sternite 6 with strong oblique impression on each side, narrowed toward base, and terminating in distinct, rounded marginal lobe; sub-marginal hair across apex of disk short and rather dense, and becoming distinctly longer toward distal ends of lateral impressions; usual dense hair at base of disk lacking. Sternites 7 and 8 unusually distinctive as figured. Parameral lobes of genital armature unusually broad, arcuate, only slightly widened at base, quadrately broadened at apex, and with rather dense, semi-erect, fine, fulvous hair on outer face except at apex. Length about 13-16 mm, anterior wing 10.5-11 mm.


Names
Scientific source:

Supported by

Hosts · map
FamilyScientific name @ source (records)
Asteraceae  Wyethia scabra @ BBSL (10)
Boraginaceae  Cryptantha flava @ BBSL (38)

Cryptantha sp @ BBSL (2)
Capparaceae  Cleome lutea @ BBSL (1)
Fabaceae  Astragalus amphioxys @ BBSL (1)

Caragana sp @ BBSL (1)
Hydrophyllaceae  Phacelia sp @ BBSL (1)
Lamiaceae  Poliomintha incana @ BBSL (2)
Loasaceae  Mentzelia sp @ BBSL (1)
Malvaceae  Sphaeralcea sp @ BBSL (19)
Onagraceae  Oenothera pallida @ BBSL (7)

Oenothera sp @ BBSL (24)
Papaveraceae  Argemone sp @ BBSL (1)
Scrophulariaceae  Penstemon sp @ BBSL (2)
_  Withheld @ BBSL (19)

go to Discover Life's Facebook group

Updated: 2024-03-28 14:12:50 gmt
Discover Life | Top
© Designed by The Polistes Corporation