|
Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.
FEMALE Length 11-13 mm.; entirely black; face much longer than distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; lateral ocelli nearer each other than to eyes, and much nearer eyes than to margin of vertex; clypeus broadly convex, apical margin quite strongly out-curved, but median third or fourth narrowly produced and very slightly incurved, the margin of this area polished and impunctate; mandibles broad apically, 4-dentate; width of cheeks about twice that of eyes; wings subhyaline basally, becoming lightly infuscated apically, veins and stigma piceous; tegulae brownish-piceous, smooth and shining; legs entirely black, front spurs hyaline in part, mid and hind spurs black; pubescence rather thin but somewhat elongate, rather copious and pale around antennae, becoming somewhat blackish on vertex and clypeus, cheeks below, on pleura and over most of legs; pubescence largely pale on scutum, scutellum and posterior face of propodeum; abdominal tergum 1 largely pale pubescent, 2 pale pubescent in part, 3-6 largely black pubescent, 1 and 2 subfasciate apically toward sides; scopa entirely blackish; punctures fine and rather close over most of head and thorax, becoming somewhat more widely separated on vertex medially and on scutum posteriorly; abdominal terga shining, punctures minute and widely separated medially, interspaces being many times diameter of punctures, these becoming much closer toward the extreme lateral margins, tergum 5 more closely punctate, 6 with fine, crowded punctures, with a narrow, rounded, apical lip; sternum 6 triangularly pointed medially.
MALE Length 9 mm.; entirely black; face nearly twice as long as distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; lateral ocelli slightly nearer eyes than to each other, slightly nearer each other than to margin of vertex; median segments of flagellum about as broad as long, apical segment more elongate, tapering apically (fig. 23); clypeus only slightly convex, broadly produced apically, nearly as long as the greatest breadth, apical margin nearly straight; mandibles bi-dentate; cheeks somewhat broader than eyes; wings hyaline at extreme base, becoming lightly infuscated apically, veins and stigma piceous; tegulae piceous, smooth and shining, with scattered, minute puncture evident; legs entirely black, anterior spurs more yellowish-hyaline, mid and hind spurs piceous or black; tergum 7 much broader than long, rather broadly rounded apically, with a submedian, depressed area; sterna 1-5 exposed, smooth and shining in large part, 1 and 2 each with a median, apical, spine-like projection, with only a few scattered punctures, 6-8 retracted, form as shown(fig. 24); genital armature as shown; pubescence of head and thorax largely pale, rather thin but somewhat elongate, subappressed between antennae and eyes, clypeus with dense, appressed tomentum; legs with short, black pubescence except for the pale posterior fringe on front tarsi; abdomen not fasciate, discal pubescence of the terga extremely short, thin and inconspicuous, tergum 6 sometimes obscurely fasciate apically.
DISTRIBUTION British Columbia to Maine and Nova Scotia, north to Hudson Bay and Alaska, May to August.
FLOWER RECORD Phacelia.
There are two additional forms of albifrons occurring in the West, argentifrons (Cresson) and maura (Cresson)
|
