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Extracted from: Ordway E. (1966). Systematics of the Genus Augochlorella (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) North of Merxico. The University of Kansas Science Bulletin Vol. XLVI, pp. 509-624, No. 16
Description. Female: (1) Length 7 to 9 mm; head width 1.8 to 2.6 mm, averaging 1.90 mm, usually wider than long (rarely as wide as long). (2) Color bright green to blue-green; frons often with slight bluish reflections; metasoma similar in color to head and thorax or darker or browner in Mexi- can specimens. (3) Mandible usually with basal half dark brown, lighter brown becoming ferruginous apically, with or without metallic reflections basally. (4) Clypeus about twice as wide as long; basal half green with large, widely spaced punctures, closer basally; apical half dark brown or black and slightly beveled, with large elongate punctures; surface between punctures usually smooth and shiny, sometimes minutely roughened. (5) Supraclypeal area shiny and irregularly punctured; surface smooth or sometimes minutely roughened. (6) Paraocular area punctorugose to finely rugose below level of antennae, more coarsely rugose above. (7) Antenna entirely dark brown; flagellum often slightly lighter below than above; pedicel as long as broad; first flagellar segment almost twice as wide as long. (8) Scutum regularly and densely punctate; punctures small, deep and close; anterior margin roughened medially, becoming weakly rugose at anterolateral angles. (9) Tegula less than twice as long as wide. (10) Scutellum with small, deep, close punctures. (11) Pleuron rugose, more coarsely so anteriorly. (12) Pro- podeum with disc 1.5 times as long as metanotum; outline of disc V-shaped, profile type 5, posterior edge abruptly rounded, shiny and smooth; disc ex- tending slightly onto posterior surface of propodeum and particularly onto posterolateral corners; striae wavy, irregular, moderately coarse, extending about two-thirds the length of disc medially, usually attaining edge at ex- treme lateral corner; surface beyond striae minutely reticulate; posterior vertical surface smooth and shiny, sparsely and minutely punctured; pos- terolateral corners prominent, shiny, smooth, with few widely spaced punc- tures; lateral surface finely and linearly rugose anteriorly, weakly punctate toward posterior angles. (13) Legs brown, fore and hind coxae and trochan- ters with strong metallic reflections, femora usually with weak metallic re- flections. (14) First metasomal tergum polished and brilliant, punctures fine and widely spaced anteriorly, smooth and shiny dorsally with punctures small, distinct, numerous, closely and regularly spaced; other terga with minute, often indistinct punctures close together; first sternum without me- tallic reflections. (15) Pubescence white on head, pale, golden to white on
vertex, thorax, metasoma and legs; pubescence short and sparse on genal area, denser and coarser in Mexican specimens.
Male: (1) Length 9 mm; head with 1.75 to 2.25 mm, averaging 2.18 mm, width equal to length. (2) Color bright green to blue-green; frons without blue reflections on green specimens; metasoma dark green, usually darker than rest of body. (3) Mandible usually with metallic reflections basally. (4) Clypeus with punctures large, widely and irregularly spaced, surface be- tween punctures usually smooth and shiny. (5) Supraclypeal area punctate to punctorugose below antennae, usually smooth, shiny and sparsely punctate basally. (6) Paraocular area with small distinct punctures below level of an- tennae, finely ruguose above. (7) Flagellum dark brown above, yellow- brown below; scape, pedicel and usually first flagellar segment dark brown in the United States and some Mexican specimens, last one or two flagellar segments often slightly darker than preceding segments; pedicel and first flagellar segment about equal in size, each about 1.5 times as wide as long. (8) Scutum shiny and smooth, uniformly punctured; punctures distinct, sep- arated by less than a puncture width medially, more crowded at periphery than at center in specimens from areas outside of California; anterior margin roughened or finely rugose, becoming slightly more coarsely so at lateral angles. (9) Tegula twice as long as wide, entirely pale yellow in some Mexi- can specimens. (10) Scutellum shiny, roughened and punctate; punctations generally irregular in size and spacing. (11) Pleuron rugose to punctorugose, becoming areolate anteriorly. (12) Propodeum with disc 1.5 times as long as metanotum; outline of disc truncately to obtusely U-shaped; disc nearly horizontal and slightly concave, slightly lower at posterolateral corners than posteromedially; posterior edge abruptly rounded, smooth and shiny; striae rather coarse, distinct, wavy, extending about two-thirds length of disc medi- ally or nearly to margin when median striae depressed, reaching edge lateral- ly, often extending onto lateral surfaces of propodeum; surface of disc beyond striae shiny, smooth, minutely reticulate, smooth area extending onto pos- terior surface; posterior surface of propodeum shiny, usually slightly rough- ened with shallow, widely spaced punctures of variable size and density, distinct to indistinct; posterolateral corners closely and shallowly punctate; lateral surface regularly and distinctly punctate with surface between punc- tures smooth and shiny. (13) Legs brown, coxae, trochanters, femora and tibiae with metallic reflections; hind basitarsi with erect hairs of uniform length and density from base to apex, about as long as width of segment; basal tuft absent. (14) Metasomal terga dark green with apical margins slightly depressed, narrowly brown. First tergum polished anteriorly with numerous widely spaced punctures, smooth, usually dull dorsally, punctures small and close; second and third terga dull, punctures small and close; sterna light brown, minutely pubescent, hairs often longer and denser at apical -margins than elsewhere, less so medially than laterally; first sternum usually with feeble metallic reflections; apical margins of all sterna straight or slight- ly convex. (15) Pubescence white. (16) Genital capsule as in Figures 26, 27, 35, type 2; inner lobe of gonostylus "fan-shaped," bearing variable number (usually about 8) of large heavy setae, inner portion divided to form finger-like section with two to five setae (usually 2 or 3); separation deep or shallow (so that "finger" may appear long or short, but always evident); sterna 7 and 8 without setae, variable in shape, 8 with broadly rounded basal edge medially, not truncate (Fig. 41b); 7 produced into knob-shaped lump medially, each arm with minute setose protuberance on distal inner angle (Fig. 413); tergum 8 of type 1 (Fig. 43).
Comparisons. A. pomoniella is, perhaps, the most distinctive of all the North American Augochlorella. It is the largest (Fig. 86), smoothest and most brilliant of the species and the least variable. It seems most closely related to neglectula, although the male genitalia show closer affinities with those of the eastern species. Both male and female can be distinguished from neglectula by the more widely separated and larger scutal punctures and the generally smooth body surface, the greener legs, the polished posterior part of the propodeal disc and posterolateral corners. the smooth posterior propo- deal surface. and in the males by the genitalia (distinl!uishable from all other North American species) and the sternal punctures and setae.
No pomoniella were found that would be confused with any other species.
Variation. Californian specimens, together with those from Nevada. both male and female. are the most morphologically stable of any species. Variability in size and color increases in Arizona and Mexico, where specimens tend to be smaller with the brown areas paler.
Specimens are larger in California (mean head width=2.33 mm) than in Mexico or Arizona (mean head width=2.07 mm) (Fig. 84) while females from Utah are about the same size as in California. Differences noted by Michener (1937) represent normal variations found not only among individuals from Utah but also in Californian material.
The metasoma of both males and females is noticeably darker in Mexican specimens than in specimens from the United States, with a greater tendency for the brown to dominate the green in males or brown to become black in females. Other brown structures, such as the mandibles, tarsi and tegulae, are paler in males from Mexico than in those from the United States, so that on the mandible, the dark brown area is restricted to the basal portion, and the tarsi of most specimens are lighter in color than other parts of the legs, contrasting with the uniformly dark brown legs of specimens from the United States. One series of nine specimens from Yucatan (13*) had both tibiae and tarsi pale although the tibiae were normal in the two other Yucatan males examined. All male specimens from Yucatan and Sonora had pale testaceous tegulae, although specimens from other parts of Mexico were normal. None of the females showed these variations in color.
Thoracic punctation is uniform both in size and spacing in males from California, but in Arizona and Mexico the punctures are closer together and irregular in size at the periphery of the scutum. Females vary little in this respect.
The surfaces of the head and thorax are dull and finely roughened by minute reticulations in many female specimens from Mexico. This roughen- ing is most apparent on the supraclypeal area, clypeus, scutum and scutellum. In addition, the clypeus is entirely brown or black or the brown area extends medially to the base. Such variants were not found in Baja California; only 1 of 28 specimens from Sonora showed such characters, but all 27 specimens from other Mexican states showed them in varying degrees.
As with other species of Augochlorella, the propodeal area shows the greatest amount of variation but even this is less than in other species and there is no geographical trend or seasonal pattern in the variation. The striae of the disc are distinct in all males but in females there are occasional in- dividuals in which the striae are fine, weak, or barely recognizable. The striae normally extend half the length of the disc, although in about one-third of the specimens they are longer medially and almost attain the edge of the disc. Such length is more noticeable in the males where the median area is slightly depressed when this condition occurs.
Extracted from: Coelho, B. W. T., 2004. A review of the bee genus Augochlorella (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Augochlorini). Systematic Entomology, Vol. 29. 282-323.
Female. Structure. (3) Head wider than long, head length
to width ratio 1.14–1.17; (4) elevation of labrum with apex
orbicular, protuberant and diameter about 1/3 of upper
margin length of labrum; (5) F10 about 2.5 length of F1;
(6) preoccipital ridge carinate. (13) tegula about 1.7 as
long as wide. Sculpture. (26) dorsal surface of T1 between
punctures smooth or faintly to strongly lineolate. Colour.
(28) apical third to half of clypeus dark brown or blackish
Male. Structure. (3) Head wider than long, head length to
width ratio 1.02–1.10; (5) antenna reaching about to scutellum; scape short, not reaching median ocellus; F1 1.4–1.5
as wide as long and longer than F2; F2 1.5 as wide as long;
F3 longer than F2, approximately 1.4 length of F1; F4
longer than F3; F5 longer than F4; F6 about 1.10 length
of F5; F7 about 1.13 length of F6; F7 approximately
equal to F8, F9 and F10, about 1.6 as long as wide; F11
about 3 length of F1; (39m) apical margin of S8 with strong or weak median process, without apical setae (40m)
apical margin of S7 with median process, with 1–4 apical
setae. Genitalia. (41m) gonobasal dorsal lobes strongly projecting over gonocoxites; (42m) parapenial lobes absent;
(43m) basal process of gonostylus absent; (44m) inner lobe
of ventral gonostylus with projection divided, bearing row of
about 13 flattened setae, usually about 9 on slightly convex
inner margin and about 4 setae longer on inner extremity of
lobe; (46m) dorsal process of gonostylus sclerotized, lobe
divided into two side short bifurcate projections, inferior
inner one lobular; (47m) penis valve slightly expanded laterally and longitudinal dorsal ridge apical to dorsal depression;
(48m) volsella with triangular basal area longer than apical.
Colour. (28) clypeus with creamy distal corners.
Distribution. From northern California and western
Nevada, southward through central and southern California;
Utah, throughout the western half and southern part of
Arizona; Baja California, the west coast of Mexico to
Oaxaca and eastward to Yucatan, southward into Costa Rica.
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