Reprinted from Viereck, H.L. 1917. New Species of North American Bees of the Genus Andrena Contained in the Collections ofthe Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 43: 365-407. The copyright on this work has expired.
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TYPE. — No. 4045, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
TYPE LOCALITY. — Southern California. (H. K. Morrison.) Related to A. (A.) decussata Viereck.
FEMALE. — Length 10.5 mm. ; body black, mostly covered with pale ochreous, almost white hairs; head with its facial line : transfacial line :: 70 : 82, axial line : temporal line :: 30 : 13, malar line : joint 3 of antennae :: 1 : 11, ocelloccipital line : greatest diameter of lateral ocellus : : 7:6, elevated portion of malar space represented by a shining line, head covered with whitish and dark or blackish hairs, front rather distinctly longitudinally striate, not elevated into a welt along the fovea, fovea at most : ocellocular line :: 8:15, foveal band present and at upper end of the inner eye margin : ocellocular line :: 2:15, distance between fovea and ocelli: ocellocular line :: 5:15, fovea deep at its upper end, nearly parallel-sided, seemingly a little narrower above its middle than below its middle, the latter continued to a point apparently a little above the antennal line, fovea -filled with pale brownish hairs on its upper half, with whitish hairs on its lower half, vertex and temples along the upper edge of the eye with dark hairs, face dark brown, mostly finely reticulated, with indistinctly defined punctures of two sizes that are as many as four puncture widths apart, supraclypeal area dark reddish brown, clypeus slightly elevated above the apical margin, convex, sculptured like the face except that the punctures are larger and better defined and as many as six puncture widths apart, clypearea wanting, clypeus thinly hairy with black or blackish hairs, its sculpture not at all hidden by hairs, labrarea narrowly subemarginate, its width at base : length down the middle : : 15: 4, width at apex : length down the middle : : 2:4, greatest length : width at base :: 4.5:15, labrarea at base nearly two-thirds as wide as the labrum, the latter with a fringe of golden brown hairs, labrum without a median longitudinal crista but finely reticulated between the labrarea and apical edge of labrum, joint 3 of antennae = 4 5 :: 11:11, joints 4 to 9 thicker than long, the succeeding joint as thick as long, joint 11 a little longer than thick, joint 12 distinctly longer than thick, antennae blackish brown through out, mandibles typical, robust, extending to the outer edge of the labrarea, black except for the apical half which is more or less dark reddish, palpi nearly typical ; thorax covered with an abundance of whitish hairs which are as long on the dorsulum as the whitish hairs on the mesopleura, dorsulum dullish, finely reticulated and punctured, the punctures nearly hidden by the hairs, from one to two puncture widths apart, notauli represented by a shiny line, anterior aspect of mesopleura with blackish hairs like the mesosternum, sculptured somewhat like the dorsulum but not so closely punctured, mesopleura not hidden by the sparse hairs, scutel hairy and sculptured much like the dorsulum laterally, its disc on each side nearly polished, metanotum hairy and sculptured much like the dorsulum except that the sculpture is denser and less distinct, tegulae dark brown, polished, wing base partly blackish brown, subcosta blackish brown, stigma pale brownish stramineous, rest of veins dull stramineous, with a blackish tinge, first recurrent vein received by the second submarginal cell before the middle and nearly as near to the first transverse cubitus as the first transverse cubitus is to the stigma on the radial vein, nervulus interstitial and forming an acute angle with the first abscissa of the discoidal vein, membrane uniformly tinged with brown, legs blackish brown except for the claws which are more or less pale brown, legs covered with blackish brown or black hairs, scopa nearly typical, its hairs blackish throughout and at most only as long as the greatest width of the hind tibiae, hind metatarsi at most : mid metatarsi :: 13:16; propodeum with its enclosure well defined, dullish and finely reticulated, finely regulose and with vestigial ridges at base, rest of upper face of propodeum sculptured somewhat like the mesopleura but not so shiny nor so distinctly punctured, and covered with fine whitish hair, propodeal pleura with sparse shallow punctures and dark hairs and almost hidden by the whitish floccus; abdomen blackish brown with its tergum shiny and finely sculptured, the punctures fine and from two to six puncture widths apart on the first tergite, the punctures closer on the succeeding tergites, second, third and fourth tergites without an apical hair band, apical edge of first, second, third and fourth tergites with a brownish stramineous border, second tergite with its elevated portion down the middle: depressed portion :: 21: 10, fifth tergite shiny, reticulate, its punctures coarser than on the other tergites, pygidium slightly convex, without a shallow furrow on each side, rounded at apex, tergum covered with inconspicuous dark hairs, fimbria dark seal brown.
Reprinted with permission of the American Entomological Society from:
Ribble, D. W. 1974. A revision of the bees of the genus Andrena of the Western Hemisphere. Subgenus Scaphandrena. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 100: 101-189.
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Lanham (1949) considered this species an Elandrena and LaBerge's type notes indicates it is probably Gymnandrena but could be an Elandrena. John Bouseman who is studying Gymnandrena (Melandrena) says albiculta is not in his group and he has not seen another specimen like it. The type specimen is a female from southern California and Andrena chapmanae is the only bee considered an Elandrena known from southern California. LaBerge's notes on albiculta do not fit chapmanae nor any other species placed in Elandrena. If albiculta is an Elandrena then it is a species I have not seen.
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