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Andrena bradleyi Viereck, 1907
Andrena saccharina Cockerell and Rohwer, 1907; Andrena (Conandrena) saccharina Cockerell and Rohwer, 1907

Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Andrenidae   Andrena
Subgenus: Conandrena



Andrena bradleyi FEM CFP comp
© Copyright Laurence Packer 2014 · 7
Andrena bradleyi FEM CFP comp

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Andrena bradleyi MALE CFP comp
© Copyright Laurence Packer 2014 · 7
Andrena bradleyi MALE CFP comp
Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --
Michael Veit · 6
Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --

Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --
Michael Veit · 6
Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --
Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --
Michael Veit · 6
Andrena bradleyi, m on Chamaedap --

Andrena bradleyi, f, back, Maryland
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Andrena bradleyi, f, back, Maryland
Andrena bradleyi, f, face, Maryland
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Andrena bradleyi, f, face, Maryland

Andrena bradleyi, f, right side, Maryland
© Copyright source/photographer · 5
Andrena bradleyi, f, right side, Maryland
Andrena bradleyi, male, cheek
© Rebekah Andrus Nelson · 2
Andrena bradleyi, male, cheek

Andrena bradleyi, figure46f
Mitchell, Bees of the Eastern United States, Vol. I, 1960 · 1
Andrena bradleyi, figure46f
Andrena bradleyi, figure47e
Mitchell, Bees of the Eastern United States, Vol. I, 1960 · 1
Andrena bradleyi, figure47e

Andrena bradleyi, male, face
© Rebekah Andrus Nelson · 1
Andrena bradleyi, male, face
Andrena bradleyi, female, face
© Rebekah Andrus Nelson · 1
Andrena bradleyi, female, face

Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, labral process
Deana Crumbling · 1
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, labral process
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, long malar space
Deana Crumbling · 1
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, long malar space

Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, pygidium
Deana Crumbling · 1
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, pygidium
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, T2
Deana Crumbling · 1
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, T2

Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, vertex
Deana Crumbling · 1
Andrena bradleyi F Apr01 PWRCDro, vertex

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Identification Notes: The male has a creamy yellow patch on the clypeus that varies from 25-75 percent of the area, extending from the rim. It appears to always have a border of black on the border of the clypeus near the supraclypeus. Females have the unique combination of extremely long heads, very narrow fovea, long malar spaces, long mandibles that cross, and the outer edge of the scopal hairs on the hind tibia darkened, in some cases to nearly black.
Andrena bradleyi – An uncommon mining bee that specializes on Vaccinium flowers. Noted for long malar space, long maxillary and labial palpi (Approaching Iomelissa), weak hair bands on the tergites, and median unpitted line on the clypeus in females.

Overview
Reprinted with permission of the American Entomological Society from: LaBerge, W. E. 1985. A revision of the bees of the genus Andrena of the Western Hemisphere. Part XI. Minor subgenera and subgeneric key. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 111: 440-567.

Please report text errors to: leah at discoverlife dot org.

This species is the most common of the two species of Conandrena. and it can be recognized in either sex by the longer malar space, the longer maxillary and labial palpi, and the weak metasomal tergal fasciae. The female clypeus usually has a broad median impunctate line.

FEMALE. MEASUREMENTS AND RATIOS: N = 20; length, 8-11 mm; width, 2.5-3.5 mm; wing length, M=3.42 0.150mm; FL/FW, M= 1.33 0.008; FOVL/FOVW, M=4.91 0.072.

INTEGUMENTAL COLOR. Black except as follows: mandible with apical third rufescent; flagellum below dark brown; tegulae dark reddish brown to piceous; wing membranes hyaline, moderately and evenly yellow, veins dark brown to reddish brown; terga with narrow apical hyaline areas; tarsi dark; tibial spurs yellow to reddish brown.

STRUCTURE. Antennal scape slightly longer than first three flagellar segments; flagellar segment 1 as long as following two and one-half segments; segment 2 slightly longer than broad or quadrate; median segments longer than broad. Eyes each about five times as long as broad or somewhat shorter, inner margins parallel. Malar space long, shortest length about two-thirds basal width of mandible or longer, shiny, impunctate. Galea long, broad, shiny. Maxillary palpus longer than galea by last two segments, segmental ratio about 0.9:1.0:0.8:0.8:0.8:0.7. Labial palpus with long first segment slightly flattened; segmental ratio about 1.0:0.6:0.5:0.6. Labral process broader than long, triangular with apex often slightly thickened, shiny; labrum long, forming obtuse angle below process, surface shiny, punctures sparse, obscure. Clypeus elongate, more than half length (almost two-thirds) extending below a line at lower ends of eyes; surface shiny, sparsely and irregularly punctate, usually broadly impunctate along midline, slightly shagreened near base. Supraclypeal area with small crowded punctures and weak shagreening dulling surface. Face above antennae with irregular longitudinal rugae and interrugal punctures dulling surface. Facial fovea shallow, narrow, extending below a line at lower margins antennal fossae, separated from lateral ocellus by almost one ocellar diameter. Vertex short, above lateral ocellus equals less than one ocellar diameter, opaque, tessellate. Genal area in profile narrow but broader than narrow eye; surface dulled by reticular shagreening and small scattered punctures except narrow shiny band along outer eye margin.

Pronotum with weak, rounded humeral angle, without dorsoventral ridge, with strong oblique suture; surface dulled by fine reticular shagreening, but oblique suture usually shiny and surface just above suture weakly rugulose. Mesoscutum with distinct round punctures separated by half to two or more puncture widths medially, more crowded anteriorly and peripherally, surface moderately dulled by coarse tessellation. Scutellum similar. Metanotum opaque, tessellate, finely punctate. Propodeum with dorsal enclosure weakly and irregularly rugulose near base, coarsely tessellate; dorsal and posterior surfaces tessellate, opaque, punctures obscure. Fore wing with vein 1st m-cu meeting second submarginal cell near middle of cell; pterostigma narrow.

Metasomal tergum 1 with small obscure punctures separated by two to three puncture widths or more, surface dulled by fine tessellation except in narrow subhyaline apical zone. Terga 2-4 similar, but punctures less evident; tergum 2 with apical area equaling one-third or less of length of tergum medially. Pygidial plate V-shaped with rounded apex, raised internal triangular area present, surface dull. Sterna 2-5 impunctate in narrow apical areas and near bases, punctures increasingly dense from base to apex in intervening area; surface dull, reticularly shagreened.

VESTITURE. Pale ochraceous to white except as follows: dorsum of thorax dark ochraceous; tarsal outer surfaces pale to dark brown; inner surfaces basitarsi yellow; hind tibia with scopal hairs brown along posterior margin and at base; metasomal terga 5 and 6 with dark brown hairs. Propodeal corbicula with abundant long simple internal hairs; trochanteral flocculus complete, thick; tibial scopa) hairs long, largely simple, relatively sparse. Terga 2-4 with weak pale apical fasciae usually interrupted medially.

MALE. MEASUREMENTS AND RATIOS. N = 20; length, 8-10 mm; width, 1.5-3.0 mm; wing length, M=3.28 0.129 mm; FL/FW, M= 1.28 0.012; FS1/FS2, M=2.03 0.044.

INTEGUMENTAL COLOR. As in female except clypeus yellow with dark brown apical margin and posterior margin infused with black, especially in vicinity of posterior tentorial pits, often posterior third of clypeus dark, rarely mostly black.

STRUCTURE. Antennal scape as long as first two and one-half flagellar segments; flagellar segment 1 about twice as long as segment 2, which is quadrate; median segments one and one-half times as long as broad. Malar space, galea, maxillary palpus, and labial palpus as in female. Labral process almost as long as broad, surface convex, apex rounded, surface shiny. Clypeus with small round punctures separated by one to three or four puncture widths or more, surface moderately dulled by reticular shagreening. Eyes each about one and one-third times as long as broad, inner margins diverging toward vertex. Supraclypeal area, face, vertex, and genal areas as in female.

Pronotum with blunt humeral angle, strong oblique suture, and absent dorsoventral ridge as in female; sculptured as in female. Thoracic sculpturing as in female, but propodeal dorsal enclosure often with basal half or more reticularly rugulose. Wings as in female. Metasomal terga as in female, but punctures minute, scarcely or not at all visible; sterna virtually impunctate, tessellate; sternum 6 deeply emarginate, posterior margin weakly reflexed (especially laterally). Terminalia as in figures 94-98. Note penis valves with blunt or truncate tips, thickened apicolateral lobes of gonocoxites, short dorsal lobes of gonocoxites, sterna 7 and 8 entire or only weakly emarginate apically.

VESTITURE. Entirely pale ochraceous to white; terga 2-5 with extremely weak, interrupted, apical pale fasciae; sterna 2-5 with subapical fimbriae of relatively short hairs.




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.; face very much longer than broad; clypeus moderately convex, elongate, projecting nearly two-thirds below suborbital line, smooth and shining, punctures fine and quite sparse on each side of an indefinite, median, impunctate line; facial foveae narrow, occupying above about half of space between eyes and ocelli, covered with pale cream-colored tomentum, becoming slightly brownish at upper end; space between margin of vertex and lateral ocelli subequal to their diameter; cheeks slightly broader than eyes, rounded posteriorly, dull, punctures minute, obscure and rather sparse; malar space nearly as long as basal width of mandibles; basal segment of flagellum considerably longer than 2nd and 3rd combined; process of labrum rather large, triangular, with narrowly rounded apex; mandibles elongate, with a very minute, inner tooth, located about one-third of distance from apex, not dilated beneath toward base, overlapping about one-third; pubescence of head, thorax and legs greyish-white, becoming fuscous or blackish on the more apical segments of legs; thoracic integument dull, tessellate, punctures of scutum rather fine and shallow, quite close anteriorly, becoming rather sparse near center posteriorly, surface rather dull, those on scutellum very minute, largely lacking on each side of a median, more closely punctate line; pleura without evident punctures; dorsal area of propodeum oblique, triangle finely subrugose: propodeal corbicula rather short. whitish, anterior fringe indistinct; trochanteral floccus well developed, white; hind tibiae slender and elongate, apex only slightly exceeding basitarsi in width, scopa rather dense, hairs simple, elongate, whitish anteriorly, becoming blackish or fuscous toward base and along posterior margin; front and mid basitarsi rather narrow, slightly narrower than their respective tibiae; 2nd submarginal cell slightly shorter than 3rd, receiving 1st recurrent slightly beyond middle; abdominal terga rather dull, finely tessellate, punctures exceedingly minute and obscure, barely visible, rather close, apical impressed areas shallow and obscure, becoming narrowly hyaline along rims, discal pubescence short, thin, erect, entirely pale, terga 2-4 with narrow, whitish, apical fasciae, tergum 5 with a fuscous, apical fimbria.



MALE Length 9 mm.; face somewhat longer than broad; clypeus rather broadly convex, somewhat flattened medially, projecting about one-half below suborbital line, apical half yellow, the basal half black, smooth and shining, punctures fine and quite sparse; space between margin of vertex and lateral ocelli subequal to their diameter; cheeks considerably broader than eyes, somewhat flattened, rather imperfectly rounded posteriorly, dull, the punctures minute, obscure and well separated; length of malar space equal to about half basal width of mandibles, basal segment of flagellum subequal to 2nd and 3rd combined; process of labrum subtriangular, apex more or less rounded; mandible of moderate length, with a minute, inner, subapical tooth, overlapping about one-third; pubescence of head, thorax and legs greyish-white, with a few inconspicuous fuscous hairs above upper end of eyes; thoracic integument dull, tessellate, punctures of scutum rather fine, shallow, rather close anteriorly, becoming rather sparse toward center posteriorly, those on scutellum very shallow and obscure, barely visible, surface dull; pleura without visible punctures; dorsal area of propodeum oblique, triangle obscurely subrugose in center and along basal margin; basitarsi slender and elongate, considerably narrower than their respective tibiae; 2nd submarginal cell somewhat shorter than 3rd, receiving 1st recurrent slightly beyond middle; abdominal terga smooth but rather dull, microscopically tessellate, punctures exceedingly minute and obscure, barely visible, quite sparse, apical impressed areas shallow, occupying medially about one-third length of disc, concolorous with basal portions of segments, discal pubescence thin, sparse, erect, entirely pale, terga 2-4 with very thin, whitish, apical fasciae evident laterally, more or less interrupted medially; apical portion of sternum 8 elongate, gradually narrowed from base to the rather narrowly rounded apex, quite densely clothed beneath with pale pubescence over apical half; penis valves with a subapical constriction, gradually expanded from this to the broadly and abruptly truncate tip and somewhat dilated toward base, excavated beneath on each side; gonocoxites quite broad and elongate, rather narrowly rounded at tip, slightly constricted near base, gonocoxal lobes broadly rounded, nearly straight, hardly at all produced.



DISTRIBUTION Colorado to Nova Scotia, south to Georgia; March to June.



FLOWER RECORDS Vaccinium, (1 6 is recorded on Prunus). Recorded by Brittain and Newton (1933 & 1934) on Pyrus malus, Rhodendron and Ribes.

Identification
Extracted from Joel Gardner. "The mining bees of Minnesota (unpublished manuscript)"

Andrena bradleyi is the only species of Conandrena in Minnesota. It is highly unusual and unlike any other Andrena species in the form of the face, which is greatly elongated, giving the bee a distinct horsey look. The malar space is about half as long as broad, and the clypeus protrudes about half its length below the compound eyes. The labral process is sharply triangular. The mandibles are long and cross to form an X shape when closed, even in the female. The male has a mostly yellow clypeus which fades to black basally. This species is oligolectic on Vaccinium. Although it is rare in nature, it may be more common near blueberry farms.

Names
Scientific source:
Hosts · map
FamilyScientific name @ source (records)
Brassicaceae  Barbarea vulgaris @ CUIC_ENT (1)
Ericaceae  Andromeda @ AMNH_BEE (2)

Chamaedaphne calyculata @ AMNH_BEE (6); CUIC_ENT (1)

Kalmia angustifolia @ AMNH_BEE (1)

Kalmia latifolia @ CUIC_ENT (5)

Pieris japonica @ AMNH_BEE (1)

Vaccinium atrococcum @ BBSL (1)

Vaccinium corymbosum @ AMNH_BEE (1)

Vaccinium sp @ BBSL (1); CUIC_ENT (3)

Vaccinium @ AMNH_BEE (3); UCMS_ENT (26)
Salicaceae  Salix @ UCMS_ENT (2)
Saxifragaceae  Ribes oxyacanthoides @ UCRC_ENT (1)

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Updated: 2024-10-03 19:08:25 gmt
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