Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1960 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 141.
FEMALE—Length 8 mm.; black; pubescence pale yellowish above, becoming somewhat more whitish below, more yellowish on legs; head very slightly broader than long; clypeus somewhat protuberant, projecting slightly more than one-half below suborbital line; eyes slightly convergent below; cheeks slightly broader than eyes; lateral ocelli sub- equally distant from eyes and margin of vertex; punctures close, deep and distinct above antennae, becoming only slightly more widely separated below and on clypeus, those between eyes and ocelli somewhat variable but quite close, the surface more shining, vertex dull, the sculpturing very obscure, cheeks more shining, obscurely and very finely striate; scutum somewhat shining between deep, distinct and quite close punctures, these becoming somewhat more sparse in center posteriorly and on each side of scutellum; pleura quite coarsely rugoso-striate; dorsal area of propodeum quite regularly and rather coarsely striate, posterior face with quite conspicuous, lateral carinae; wings subhyaline, veins pale ferruginous, stigma more brownish; tegulae piceous, with a hyaline anterior and outer rim; legs entirely black except for the somewhat reddened apical tarsal segments, hind basitibial plate narrowly rounded apically; abdominal terga rather dull, punctures fine, but quite deep and distinct, rather close on basal segment, becoming almost crowded on the more posterior segments, terga 2-4 with dense, white, basal fasciae, discal pubescence suberect, brownish.
MALE—Length 7-8 mm.; black, with apical half of clypeus pale yellow; pubescence whitish, rather dense on head and thorax; length and breadth of head equal (similar to fuscipenne, fig. 86); clypeus quite convex, produced about two-thirds below suborbital line; eyes rather strongly convergent below; mandibles rather slender but quite short; labrum short, not appreciably produced medially; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and margin of vertex; basal segment of flagellum very slightly longer than pedicel, following segments considerably longer, blackish above, piceous below; punctures very fine and close above antennae, becoming obscure hut still quite close below, vertex and cheeks substriate; scutum shining, punctures deep and distinct, well separated medially, becoming very fine and close at mid line anteriorly, deeper and more distinct but closely crowded laterally, quite sparse on scutellum on each side of middle; pleura rather coarsely rugosostriate; dorsal area of propodeum quite coarsely and regularly striate, posterior face margined laterally with distinct carinae; wings hyaline, veins pale ferruginous, stigma brownish-ferruginous; tegulae reddish, with yellowish-hyaline anterior and outer margin; legs largely black, but tibiae with a small, basal, yellowish spot, and basitarsi almost entirely yellow, the more apical tarsal segments darkened; abdominal terga rather deeply and distinctly but very finely punctate, punctures well separated but not sparse on basal segment, becoming finer, closer and more obscure on the more apical segments, terga 2-4 with rather indefinite, whitish, basal fasciae, discal pubescence suberect, pale brownish; apical margin of sternum 5 nearly straight, 6 with a triangular, shining and bare, apical area which is fringed basally with rather dense pubescence; apical margin of tergum 7 not noticeably reflexed; gonostylus simple, short, slightly dilated and rounded apically; no ventral, retrorse lobe evident.
DISTRIBUTION—Holarctic, being widely distributed in Canada and northern Europe. It barely reaches the United States, with the only positive records from Maine and New York; July to October.
FLOWER RECORDS—Aster, Barbarea, Fagopyrum, Lotus, Melilotus, Solidago and Tragopogon. Brittain and Newton (1934) record leucozonium on the following additional genera: Achillea, Arctium, Centaurea, Daucus, Diervilla, Epilobium, Hieracium, Narcissus, Philadelphus, Prunus, Pyrus malus, Rudbeckia, Salix, Sonchus, Trifolium and Vaccinium.
The collection of this species on certain spring flowers, such as Salix, Prunus and Pyrus, suggests an earlier seasonal appearance in flight than the records show.
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