Species account taken from: "A Revision of the Genus Ashmeadiella (Hymen., Megachilidae) Author(s): Charles D. Michener Source: American Midland Naturalist,Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jul., 1939), pp. 1-84"
This is a species in which the abdomen is largely red. The female differs from that of timberlakei by the more produced, narrowly truncated median lobe of the clypeus and the narrowly truncate labrum. This species is also related to salviae, but differs by the smaller median lobe of the clypeus, trun- cated labrum, etc. The male is distinguished from that of salviae by the more finely punctate clypeus.
Female: Inner margins of eyes slightly divergent toward clypeus; facial line a little longer than transfacial; under side of flagellum brown; punctures of clypeus fairly large, elongated longitudinally, and separated by conspicuous shiny ground; anterior margin of clypeus with lateral lobes small and slightly angled at apices, median lobe large and elongate, at base a little broader than basal width of clypeus, at apex narrowly truncate; apex of median lobe of clypeus triangular in cross-section; median lobe with longitudinal dorsal carina, and seen in lateral view with upper side at angle of about 1350 to adjacent disc of clypeus; apex of labrum narrowly truncate, truncation a little concave; cheeks a little narrower than width of eyes, seen from side; anterior ocellus far posterior to midpoint between antennal bases and posterior edge of vertex; distance between posterior ocelli greater than distance to nearest eye margin and equal to distance to posterior edge of vertex; punctures of vertex a little finer and closer than those of scutum. Scutum without spots of pubescence anteriorly, punctures nearly approximate; punctures of mesepis- terna about same size as those of scutum; wings clear; tegulae testaceous; inner margin of inner hind tibial spurs finely serrate with about eleven small teeth, outer margin with about seven large teeth; outer spurs with four or five moderate sized oblique teeth on each margin. Punctures of abdomen strong, those of abdomen seperated by about their diameters; punctures of posterior margins of tergites, especially second tergite, distinctly finer than those of rest of tergites; tergites red, dorsal median areas black, amount of black small on first tergite and increasing posteriorly, sixth tergite with only a little red at sides; sternites, especially basal ones, partly red; tergites one to five with apical bands of white pubescence; sixth tetgite, and to a lesser extent fifth, pruinose; scopa nearly white. Length 6 mm. (5 mm. in a paratype).
Male: Coloration similar to that of female; inner margins of eyes converging below, except for lower portions where they diverge; transfacial line longer than facial line; apex of clypeus slightly elevated, smooth, with slight concavity nearly as long as basal width of clypeus; punctures of clypeus fine, close; apex of labrum rounded; punctures of labrum rather coarse, separated by but little shiny ground; cheeks hardly half as wide as eyes, seen from side; frons and vertex rather coarsely and closely punctate; anterior ocellus considerably posterior to midpoint between antennal bases and posterior end of vertex; distance between posterior ocelli greater than distance to eye margin or to posterior edge of vertex. Scutum with punctures of same size as those of vertex, separated on disc by a little shiny ground; cheeks and mesepisterna a little more finely punctate than scutum; inner margin of inner hind tibial spurs with about eight small teeth, outer margin with five large teeth and a smaller one basad to them. Punctures of first four abdominal tergites dorsally nearly as coarse as those of scutum and separated by considerably less than their diameters; punctures of fifth and sixth tergites finer and closer; abdomen with more red than in female, posterior margins of tergites broadly red, and teeth at apex of abdomen red; sternites except first, red; median teeth of sixth tergite small, narrow, slightly longer than broad, concavity between them slightly broader than a semicircle. Length 4 mm.
Holotype female (Calif. Acad. Sci., Ent. No. 4742) and one paratype: Dos Palmos, Riverside County (Colorado Desert), California, March 19, 1934 (from collection of Mont A. Cazier, after whom the species is named). Allotype male (Calif. Acad. Sci., Ent. No. 4763) and two paratypes from same locality, March 28, 1934 (from collection of G. E. and R. M. Bohart). One female paratype, Box Canyon, California, March 31, 1929, on Cercidium torreyanum, and one from Painted Canyon, California, April 18, 1925, on same flower (P. H. Timberlake). Paratypes will be found in the collections of Messrs. Bohart, Timberlake, and Cazier, and in that of the author. Two additional males from Dos Palmos represent a species distinct from the male described above, and possibly the true male of cazieri. I have associated the sexes largely on the basis of the entirely black femora in both male and female (as understood by me) of cazieri, the other form having the hind femora latgely red.
Additional specimens of this species are from Mazourka Canyon, Inyo Mountains, Inyo County, California, May 25, 1937, on Parosela fremontii (C.D.Michener) and west side of Wastgard Pass, Inyo County, California, May 27, 1937, on Parosela fre- monfii (C.D.Michener). Some females from these localities have the punctuation of the vertex and the scutum approximately the same
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