• Hosts

This is a common, widely distributed and variable species. I have examined specimens ft'om Ct., N. Y., Va., Fla., Cuha, Tenn., Ill., l\lontana, 'Yasll., Cal., So. Cal. Local specimens yary in length, in the females from 7 to 11 mOl., in the males from 6 to 10 mm. The wings are more or less hyaline. Local males have the legs as in Say's description with the middle and hind tibiae spotted, or these parts may be wh.olly yellow, and even the femora almost entirely so.

Extracted from: Mitchell, T. 1962. Bees of the Eastern United States, I. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. 1-191.

FEMALE-Length 8-10 mm. ; entirely black; pubescence yellowish-white above, becoming more whitish below; head much broader than long; eyes parallel; cheeks much broader than eyes, terminating below with a prominent tubercle or angle; distance between lateral ocelli about half that between ocelli and eyes, this space subequal to that between ocelli and margin of vertex; punctures fine but deep and distinct, close on upper portion of face and dorsum of thorax, becoming quite sparse on lower portion of face and clypeus, more indistinct on cheeks below, pleura more striate than punctate; dorsal area of propodeum not sharply defined, very finely striate labrally, becoming more rugose medially; wings subhyaline, veins and stigma yellowish; tegulae more coppery; hind basitibial plate pointed apically; abdominal terga minutely and closely punctate, with entire, whitish, apical fasciae, these very narrow and inconspicuous on 1st and 2nd* terga.

MALE-Length 7-9 mm.; black, with mandibles, labrum and apical half of clypeus ~el; low, flagellum testaceous beneath, tegulae yelIowish; length of head equal to its breadth; clypeus projecting only slightly below suborbital line; eyes very slightly convergent below; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; lateral ocelli slightly nearer margin of vertex than to eyes; basal segment of flagellum nearly equalling segment 2 in length; punctures deep and distinct but fine and close on head and dorsum of thorax, pleura more rugoso-striate; dorsal area of propodeum rather poorly defined, finely striate laterally, becoming very finely rugose medially; wings subhyaline, veins and stigma more ferruginous ; basal portion of legs black, but tibiae ferruginous, with an outer yellowish stripe, tarsi entirely yellow; abdominal terga minutely and rather closely punctate, apical margins reddish-hyaline; apical abdominal fasciae whitish; apical margin of sternum 5 straight, sternum 6 broadly rounded; gonostyli relatively simple, subdivided apically into a rather narrow, rounded, outer lobe and a more broadly rounded, inner lobe which is fringed with hairs.

Distribution

Country-wide, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, throughout the year, including December, January and February in Florida.

Flower Records

thaea, Antennaria, Aster, Barbarea, Berteroa, Bidens, Brassica, Ceanothus, Cephalanthus, Chrysanthemum, Chrysopsis, Cirsium, Elephantopus, Erigeron, Eryngium, Eupatorium, Fagopyrum, Flaveria, Fragaria, Geranium Haplopappus, Helenium, Helianthus, Houstonia, Melilotus, Monarda, Oenothera, Opuntia, Polygonum, Potentilla, Prunus, Pycnanthemum, Rhus, Rubus, Rudbeckia, Senecio, Solidago, Spiraea, Stokesia, Sw riana, Tanacetum, Taraxacum, Trifolium, Vernonia, and Zinnia. Robertson (1929) records this species (as Odontalictus ligatus) on the following additional genera: Achilles, Anthemis, Arctium, Asclepias, Blephilia, Boltonia, Braunia, Cacalia, Camassia, Capsella, Cardumine, Cicuta, Claytonia, Coreopsis, Cornus, Crataegus, Cryptotaenia, Dianthera, Dentaria, Gnaphalium, Hedeoma, Heliopsis, Hypoxis, Krigia, Lactuca, Lepachzjs, Lepidium, Lespedexa, Liatris, Lippia, Lud,wigia, Lzjcopus, Lythrum, Malva, Nelumbo, Nepeta, Oxalis, Parthenium, Petalostemon, Phytolacca, Polytaenia, Potentilla, Ptelea, Radicula, Ranunculus, Sagittaria, Salix, Scutellaria, Silphium, Sium, Stellaria, Taenidia, Valerianella, Verbena, Veronica, Zanthoxylum, and Zixia. This possibly is the most widely distributed and abundant of all native bees, and along with this wide distribution there is a wide range of variation, both in size and in the relative development of such structures as the genal protuberance. There seems to be no correlation, however, between extremes of variation and geographic or seasonal distribution, and it seems doubtful, therefore, that any logical division into races or subspecies can be achieved. One record is of interest, consisting of a series of 5 males collected at Princeton, Florida, December 18, 1955, by D. 0. Wolfenbarger. These were found in bagworm cases, and the possibility is suggested that they were hibernating as adults.

• National Biological Information Infrastructure
• National Science Foundation