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 10 mm.; entire body brilliant blue-green, abdominal terga more or less tinged with blue or purple; mandibles somewhat reddened; apical third of clypeus blackened, this portion sparsely punctate, basal greenish part closely punctate; supraclypeal area with rather fine, distinct and close punctures; face and vertex rather coarsely rugose; cheeks coarsely striate; pubescence of head and thorax above ochraceous, becoming more whitish below, more or less intermixed with fuscous on scutum; scutum finely and very closely punctate throughout, scutellum somewhat more shining, with minute, close punctures interspersed between much coarser and more sparse punctures, these becoming closer laterally; pleura coarsely reticulate, the metapleura more definitely striate; dorsal face of propodeum with a rather distinct, median, finely reticulate triangle, somewhat more coarsely reticulate on each side of this, lateral faces very finely and regularly striate, posterior face obliquely striate on each side of central line; legs largely piceous, front and middle femora yellowish apically, front tibiae more or less yellowish anteriorly; tegulae yellowish; wings quite uniformly pale brownish, veins and stigma more ferruginous; abdominal terga minutely and very closely punctate throughout, except that the basal pruinose area of terga 2-4 have rather sparse, distinct and deep punctures clearly visible, pubescence of discs very short and inconspicuous, largely pale on the more basal terga, becoming blackish on 3 and 4, tergum 5 entirely black pubescent.
MALE—Length 11 mm.; head and thorax brilliant blue-green, abdominal terga piceous to black apically, more yellow basally; mandibles yellow, the tips reddened; labrum and apical third of clypeus yellow, clypeus green basally, this part closely and finely punctate, yellow apical part sparsely punctate; supraclypeal area strongly elevated, transversely rugoso-punctate; face finely and densely rugoso punctate; cheeks shining and rather smooth below, becoming rather obscurely striate above; scape yellow, flagellum ferruginous beneath, blackish above; pubescence of head and thorax ochraceous above, becoming somewhat paler below, that on scutum to some degree intermixed with fuscous; scutum and scutellum densely and rather finely rugoso-punctate; pleura coarsely reticulate anteriorly, more finely so posteriorly, metapleura irregularly striate; dorsal area of propodeum rather closely striate along the narrow, basal border, with an indefinite triangle, more finely reticulate on each side, lateral faces finely reticulate anteriorly, becoming rather coarsely striate posteriorly and below, posterior face irregularly reticulate; tegulae yellowish; wings uniformly pale brownish, veins and stigma more ferruginous; coxa and hind trochanters green, legs otherwise chiefly yellow, but mid femora piceous apically, tibiae with a piceous posterior blotch, hind femora very robust, length only about twice the breadth, with a fine, ventral tubercle; basal abdominal tergum piceous apically, very finely and closely punctate, apical impressed portion of discs somewhat suffused with bluish, pubescence of yellowish bands pale, that of the dark apical portions of discs subappressed and blackish; sterna 2-4 slightly swollen on each side just posterior to apical border, 5 straight apically, apical third yellow, 6 with a very faint, median, impressed line, the apical triangular point yellowish; ventral lobe of gonocoxite broad and expansive, with a conspicuous, apical fringe; gonostyli expanded dorsally and ventrally into flattened inner lobes between which they are deeply excavated, and bearing an apical slender stylus and a short basal truncate inner lobe; penis valves not keeled, with a subbasal constriction.
DISTRIBUTION — North Dakota to Maine, south to Texas and Florida, April to October, with records in Florida of February, March and November.
FLOWER RECORDS—Afzelia, Aster, Berlandiera, Bidens, Brassica, Cephalanthus, Chamaecrista, Chrysopsis, Cicuta, Cirsium, Coreopsis, Cucumis, Eupatorium, Euphorbia, Flaveria, Gaillardia, Galactia, Gelsemium, Gerardia, Haplopappus, Ilex, Ligustrum, Melilotus, Monarda, Opuntia, Pentstemon, Phaseolus, Polygonum, Prunus, Pyrrhopappus, Rhus, Silphium, Solidago, Stokesia, Trilisa, Vaccinium and Vicia. Robertson (1929) records splendens on the following additional genera: Blephilia, Claytonia, Osmorrhiza, Petalostemon, Salix and Verbena.
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