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Extracted from: Timberlake P.H., (1969). A Contribution to the Systematics of North America Species of Synhalonia (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology Volume 57
This species occurs in the montane and cismontane parts of California and is rather rare, as I have been able to examine only 19 females and 57 males. The female is distinguished from all other species by having unusually dense and pale ochreous bands at base of tergites 2 to 4, with no black hair showing at the base of third or fourth segments unless they are more than normally extended. The male has unusually long and heavy antennae as in cordleyi, the pubescence of abdomen rather shaggy, and the spurs of hind tibiae slightly curved at apex.
The type of stretchii has a narrow pale band of hair at apex of the fifth tergite that is lacking in the type of idiotes and in all females that I have seen. The value of this character would be enhanced if specimens agreeing with the type of stretchii could be discovered, but as the matter stands at present we may assume that the type is an aberrant specimen.
Female.—Black; small joint of tarsi ferruginous or brown; tibial spurs testaceous. Tegulae fuscous, with apical part more or less amber. Wings dusky hyaline, nervures dark ferruginous or piceous, subcosta black. Apical depression of tergites rufotestaceous and shining. Pubescence of head and thorax moderately dense, erect, more or less fulvo-ochraceous varying to ochreous and paler beneath and on face. Hair of tergite 1 long, erect, pale ochreous. Tergites 2 to 4 with short, dense, pale ochreous pubescence, with numerous longer hairs interspersed and more ap-pressed and feathered hair covering apical depressions, very thinly on tergite 2 and more thickly on tergite 4. Tergites 5 and 6 with reddish-brown hair, or sometimes blackish with reddish-brown hair restricted to apical band on tergite 5; apical fringe on each side of tergite 5 more or less ochreous. Hair on apical half of venter fulvous brown, paler or whitish toward base and on lateral margins. Hair of legs whitish, with scopal hair more or less ochreous, hair on inner side of basitarsi ferruginous, and dense hair on outer side of middle tibiae brown.
Head much broader than long; inner orbits of eyes parallel. Vertex only slightly impressed on each side; lateral ocelli slightly more than their distance apart from nearest eye and about their diameter from occipital margin. Proboscis moderately long; galeae shining and nearly hairless. Second submarginal cell receiving recurrent nervure one-fifth of its length, or less, from apex. Clypeus densely rugoso-punctate. Frons, vertex, and mesonotum moderately dull, with fine, dense, punctures, and posterior middle of scutum more shining and with punctures moder¬ately separated. Abdomen minutely and densely punctured, the punctures sparser on apical depressions, and apical margin of tergite 1 broadly, and of following successively less broadly, impunctate and bare. Pygidial plate about as long as wide at base and narrowed much more than half to rounded apex. Length about 14-15 mm, anterior wing 9.5-10 mm, width of abdomen about 5.4-5.8 mm.
Male.—Black; tarsi dark, or small joints more or less ferruginous, at least on apical joint and claws; tibial spurs pale testaceous. Labrum and clypeus yellow; clypeal mark much broader than high, more or less obtusely notched on each side, and rather narrowly separated from margin of eyes. Tegulae and wings about as in female. Apical border of tergites brownish, and more rufotestaceous on tergites 5 and 6. Pubescence ochraceous or more or less bright fulvous above, paler beneath and on face. Hair of tergite 1 long, erect, and pale ochreous, that of tergite 2 moderately short, erect, whitish with longer erect hairs intermixed, and black hair across apex. Following segments with erect, mostly blackish hairs and very short, thin white tomentum, which becomes dense enough to form a more or less evident narrow band across base of apical depression of tergites 4 and 5, and on each side of depression of tergite 3. Broad band at apex of tergite 6 whitish, tinged with brown, or hair of tergites 6 and 7 nearly uniformly brownish or blackish. Hair on sternite 5 brown, fringes on preceding segments of venter white. Hair of legs white, ochreous, or ferruginous on inner side of basitarsi.
Head much broader than long; inner orbits somewhat divergent above. Vertex weakly im¬pressed on each side, lateral ocelli their distance apart from nearest eye. Antennae long, robust, flagellum strongly compressed, reaching tergite 4, or beyond; joint 3 as long as wide at apex and about one-fifth as long as joint 4. Clypeus dullish, with dense, shallow punctures. Frons, vertex, and mesonotum sculptured about as in female. Abdomen shining, minutely and densely punctured, apical depressions of segments more sparsely punctured and rather narrowly bare and impunctate on margin. Sternite 6 shining, with rounded marginal lobe on each side, broader than long, and a broad, rounded shallow impression, more basal than lobes and reaching more than halfway to median line; disk with long hair at base, often concealed by preceding segment, and very short marginal hair at rounded apex. Sternites 7 and 8 as figured. Parameral lobes of genital armature long, slender, moderately widened at base and apex, apical expansion rounded and directed outward; discal hair fine, short, light-colored and restricted to basal fourth. Length 11-13 mm, anterior wing 9-9.5 mm.
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