Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.
QUEEN_Length 17-21 mm., breadth of abdomen 8.5-9 mm.; black, apical tarsal segments somewhat more piceous, mid and hind spurs and tegulae piceous; wings rather lightly infuscated, veins pale testaceous to piceous; pubescence copious and quite elongate, largely black on head, with a small amount pale pubescence on occiput and vertex medially; pubescence yellow on pronotum, tubercles, scutum in large part, scutellum, upper portion of pleura and abdominal terga 1 and 2, the median posterior area of scutum relatively bare, sometimes with a few marginal or intermixed black hairs; pubescence legs and of abdominal terga 3-6 black, or tergum .6 with a few pale hairs laterally; pleura either black, or yellow at bases of legs; corbicular fringe of elongate black hairs; basitarsi with brownish pubescence beneath, dark on outer surface, the hind basitarsus and following segments with very fine and rather obscure pale pruinose hairs; clypeus very finely and closely punctate laterally and above, becoming quite sparsely and very finely punctate over the broad median area, surface shining; labrum with a basal ridge which slightly interrupted medially, this area somewhat excavated but slightly elevated above the margin on each side, this fringed with short, ochraceous hairs; apex of mandible with a pair of low notches toward upper angle, very shallowly but broadly emarginate toward lower angle, outer face smooth, without distinct punctures; malar space smooth and shining, not noticeably punctate, its length very slightly shorter than basal width of mandible and slightly less than one-third length of eye; face medially very minutely and densely punctate, punctures becoming somewhat more distinct, well separated, but still very fine toward ocelli, space between ocelli and eyes polished and only very sparsely and minutely punctate; vertex minutely and densely punctate medially, the punctures becoming somewhat more distinct but still very close laterally; lateral ocelli slightly nearer eyes than to margin of vertex, subequally distant from eyes and each other; antennal scape very slightly more than half total length of flagellum, basal segment of flagellum considerably longer than segment 3, the latter very slightly longer than 2 which is considerably longer than broad; maximum width of hind basitarsus only very slightly less than half the length, posterior margin very slightly curved, base and apex about about equal in breadth; tergum 6 shining, only very vaguely and minutely punctate if at all, very slightly ridged medially toward the narrowly rounded apex.
WORKER—Length 12-14 mm., breadth of abdomen 5-6 mm.; pubescence somewhat more copious and elongate than in queen, bright yellow above, that on pleura somewhat more whitish or possibly largely black; terga 1 and 2 entirely pale yellow pubescent, 3 either entirely black or with largely yellow pubescence medially, becoming intermixed with black hairs laterally, the more apical terga largely black but with intermixed paler hairs, especially on tergum 6; resembles queen in most other details.
MALE—Length 13-14 mm., breadth of abdomen 5-6 mm.; black, mandibles more or less ferruginous at tip, apical segments of legs somewhat more piceous, mid and hind spurs piceous to black, tegulae piceous; wings rather lightly but uniformly infuscated, veins pale testaceous to piceous; pubescence long and copious, largely whitish on head, with a few elongate, dark hairs along inner orbits, before ocelli, and on vertex laterally, vertex otherwise more yellowish pubescent, more whitish on cheeks below, the shorter pubescence of face very fine and densely plumose; pubescence of thorax entirely pale, bright yellow above, more whitish beneath, the legs, including the femora, whitish pubescent basally, mid trochanters with some short curved ochraceous bristles; tibiae with some very short, dark pubescence anteriorly but rather prominently fringed with pale hairs posteriorly, the basitarsi with brownish pubescence beneath; clypeus somewhat shining between fine but rather close and distinct punctures beneath the dense pubescence; labrum quite broadly rounded, more or less truncate medially, somewhat shining on each side basally, the median apical area with scattered, shallow punctures; mandibles slender, distinctly bidentate apically, outer surface densely yellow tomentose, lower margin with a fringe of elongate, more or less curled, yellowish hairs; malar space smooth and shining, only very vaguely punctate except below, its length slightly greater than basal width of mandible, about one- fourth length of eye; median area of face very finely and closely punctate beneath dense pubescence, punctures becoming quite coarse and rather sparse toward ocelli, space between ocelli and eyes largely polished and impunctate; vertex finely and very densely punctate medially, becoming somewhat more distinctly, sparsely and finely punctate laterally, area between eyes and ocelli shining and impunctate; lateral ocelli subequally distant from margin of vertex and each other, very slightly closer to eyes; basal segment of flagellum very slightly longer than segment 2, very slightly shorter than 3; hind tibiae convex on outer face, shining, very sparsely punctate; hind basitarsus nearly parallel-sided, slightly narrowed at base, length about three and one- third times the maximum breadth; sterna 7 and 8 and genital armature as in impatiens. (fig. 133).
DISTRIBUTION — Alaska to Maine. south to Georgia, April to September.
FLOWER RECORDS — Angelica, Hydrangea, Malus, Rhododendron, Ru bus and Vaccinium.
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