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 small species with a short clypeus. It is black with the abdomen largely red, and is distinguished from breviceps in both sexes by the strong teeth of the tibial spurs, in the female by the entire median lobe of the clypeus and the more coarsely punctate scutum, and in the male by the coarser and closer punctures of the entire body.
Female: Inner margins of eyes diverging toward clypeus; cheeks and face except clypeus densely white hairy; under side of flagellum dusky (reddish in many paratypes); clypeus with large punctures, separated by some smooth surface; apical margin of clypeus angularly produced laterally, produced to a lobe medially; labrum bidentate at apex, the teeth rather slender, surface smooth between punctures; mandibles reddish medially, outer tooth longer than others; first segment of labial palpus a little longer than second; cheeks nearly as broad as eyes seen from side; anterior ocellus posterior to midpoint between antennal sockets and posterior edge of vertex; distance between pos- terior ocelli slightly greater than distance to posterior edge of vertex; punctures of vertex and scutum rather small, those of vertex approximate; scutum margined with white pubescence all around; punctures of scutum slightly larger than those of vertex, many of them separated by half their diameters; tegulae testaceous; wings clear; scutellum pubescent posteriorly, its punctures smaller and closer than those of scutum; mnesepisterna densely white pubescent, punctured similarly to scutellum; under side of hind tibiae reddish; inner margin of inner hind tibial spurs nearly entire, outer margin with five large teeth and two smaller ones basad to them; outer spurs with about five distinct but oblique teeth on each margin. Abdominal tergites with punctures nearly as large as those of scutellum; tergites one ot five with distinct apical bands of white pubescence; first tergite red; second to sixth with middorsal black patches increasing in size on posterior segments so that sixth tergite is red laterally only; sternites reddish laterally, basal ones largely reddish; scopa white. Length 5/2 mm.
Male: Inner margins of eyes converging below, except for their lower parts, which diverge; cheeks and face covered with white pubescence; flagellum brown beneath; apical margin of clypeus with shallow emargination, nearly three- fourths as wide as basal width of clypeus; mandibles red except basally and apically; labrum subtruncate at apex, strongly punctured; cheeks about half as broad as eyes, seen from side, closely punctate; anterior ocellus considerably posterior to midpoint between antennal bases and posterior edge of vertex; distance between posterior ocelli considerably greater than distance to nearest eye margin or to posterior margin of vertex; punctures of vertex rather large and nearly approximate; punctures of scutum slightly larger than those of vertex, broadly separated by nearly their diameters, or closer on midline; scutum margined all around with white pubescence; scutellum and mesepis- terna more finely and closely punctate than scutum; tegulae testaceous; tarsi brown; under side of posterior tibiae reddish brown; inner margin of inner hind tibial spurs finely serrate, outer margin with about five large sharp teeth; inner margin of outer hind tibial spurs with about three oblique teeth, outer margin with about five oblique teeth. Punctures of tergites nearly as coarse as those of scutellum, approximate laterally, separated by less than their diameters dorsally; abdomen red, sternites black medially, tergites one to six with black median areas, smallest on six, becoming progressively larger anter- iorly to th ethird, which has latgest black area, and decreasing in size anter- iorly, first tergite having only small black area (most paratypes exhibit more black, the sixth tergite being largely black); posterior margins of all tergites broadly red; sixth tergite with emargination between median teeth broader than semicircle; median teeth broader than long, rounded translucent testaceous. Length 4 1/2 mm.
Holotype female (Calif. Acad. Sci., Ent. No. 4744), allotype male (Calif. Acad. Sci., Ent. No. 4745) and eight paratypes: Lone Pine, Inyo County, California, June 9, 1937, on Parosela polyadenia (C. D. Michener); seven paratypes, same locality, flower, and collector, June 15, 1937; four paratypes, same locality, June 13, 1937 (E. C. Van Dyke).
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