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Extracted from Parys K, Griswold T, Ikerd H, Orr M (2018) New records and range extensions of several species of native bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from Mississippi. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e25230. Notes: Originally described from Texas (Cockerell 1910), this species is smaller than
Dieunomia heteropoda (Say), the more commonly encountered species in northern
Mississippi. Two subspecies are currently recognised, the second of which is D. (D.)
bolliana helenii (Cockerell 1936). We choose not to use a subspecific classification
here, given their questionable status. Notably, Cockerell himself admits that a specimen
collected alongside the type of his subspecies "approaches the typical form in having
the mesothorax and sides of thorax black" (Cockerell 1936). Similar variation in other
collections of this species and other Dieunomia has been observed by MCO.
Ultimately, it seems unlikely that this subspecific epithet will survive subsequent
taxonomic treatment. The currently known distribution is reported only for the south-western United States of
Texas and New Mexico and ranges south into México (Hurd et al. 1980). Cockerell
(1910) reported collections made from Dracopis amplexicaulis (Vahl) Cass (listed as
Rudbeckia amplexicaulis) and Helianthus sp. Additional observations of D. bolliana
individuals collecting pollen and nectar were reported from Helenium microcephalum
DC. and Polypteris texana (DC) A. Gray (Cockerell 1936). Hurd et al. (1980) regard this
species as a oligolege of composites, secondarily associated with Helianthus. Of the ten specimens of D. bolliana reported here from Mississippi (Fig. 4), nine were
collected in the month of June and three of those were collected by sweeping roadside
patches of Coreopsis sp. for other insects. Two specimens were collected in soybeans
on the USDA ARS' research farm outside Leland, MS. The remaining four June
specimens were also collected from roadsides by sweeping, but no host plant was
recorded. The last specimen was collected in a blue vane trap during July at the Alcorn
State University Research Farm located in Mound Bayou, MS.
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