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 14-15 mm.; abdomen elongate and parallel-sided; black, including tegulae and legs, mid and hind spurs more testaceous: eyes subparallel; clypeal margin with a rather low but quite distinct tubercle on each side, the rather broad intervening space very slightly outcurved, narrowly shining and impunctate; mandibles 4-dentate, with a very low, bevelled edge between 2nd and 3rd teeth (fig. 56) ; lateral ocelli somewhat nearer eyes than to margin of vertex; cheeks sub- equal to eyes in width; vertex somewhat shining, punctures quite deep and distinct but rather fine, close in large part, being slightly separated laterally, very close and fine on cheeks above, becoming somewhat coarser but more shallow and vague below; face below ocelli finely and densely punctate, supraclypeal area rather finely rugose, becoming very narrowly shining, with a few distinct punctures toward clypeus which is uniformly very finely and closely punctate, punctures becoming somewhat coarser at extreme sides; pubescence white but rather short on face and cheeks above, becoming somewhat more elongate on cheeks below, quite dense between antennae and on face laterally, vertex with shorter, more erect, fuscous hairs; thorax with rather short, white pubescence laterally and posteriorly, quite dense around tubercles and back of wing bases, very short and largely pale on scutum, becoming more fuscous over posterior half of disc, scutellum with scattered, brownish hairs, interspersed in the generally light, erect and elongate pubescence; scutum dull, punctures very fine, densely crowded in large part, slightly separated only in center, those of scutellum somewhat more sparse but shah low and close, rather obscure, axillae very finely and densely punctate; pleura dull, punctures close but rather shallow, lateral faces of propodeum smoother but rather dull, posterior face dull, with very close, minute and obscure punctures; hind basitarsus nearly as long and broad as their tibiae, front and mid basitarsi distinctly shorter than their tibiae; tegulae very minutely and closely punctate; wings subhyaline, faintly clouded apically, veins brownish-piceous; abdominal terga 2-4 with rather deep, sub-basal, transverse, grooves, basal margins of the grooves distinct but not carinate, apical margins of terga quite narrowly but abruptly depressed, with dense, entire, whitish fasciae; basal tergum with copious, elongate and entirely pale pubescence, discal pubescence of following terga short and black, but erect and quite conspicuous; punctures of terga quite deep, distinct, very fine and close, becoming slightly more distinct on the more apical terga; tergum 6 quite abruptly upturned apically, very densely rugoso-punctate, well covered with short but erect black hairs; sternum 6 well covered with very short, black, scopal hairs, evenly rounded apically, the very short and obscure marginal fringe slightly interrupted medially; scopa otherwise largely yellowish, becoming more or less black across apical half of sternum 5; the more basal sterna with fine and close punctures, these becoming more coarse and sparse to sternum 5, apical margins quite distinctly depressed and yellowish-hyaline; sternal fasciae not evident.
MALE—Length 12-13 mm.; black, tegulae more yellowish-hyaline, front legs largely yellowish, middle pair more ferruginous, hind pair black, spurs yellow; eyes very slightly convergent below; clypeal margin very shallowly incurved across median third; mandibles 3-dentate (fig. 56), submedian inferior process broadly, triangularly acute, with a slight angle between its tip and the apical tooth; apical segment of flagellum slightly dilated; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and margin of vertex; cheeks subequal to eyes in width, much narrowed below, with a shallow excavation below lower end of eye which is bare, polished and impunctate, a narrow, transverse, impunctate line reaching from this to hind margin, this with a more dorsal fringe of very short, white hairs, and a ventral fringe of elongate, snowy-white hairs; vertex somewhat shining, punctures rather fine, well separated but deep and distinct, becoming somewhat more shallow and obscure on cheeks; punctures of face very fine and densely crowded; face quite densely covered with rather elongate, creamy-white pubescence which largely obscures surface, that on cheeks white, rather short and thin above, that on vertex thin, pale and rather short, but with a few very short, dark hairs on each side; pubescence of thorax rather short but dense and white laterally and posteriorly, very thin and largely pale on scutum and scutellum, with only a very few, very inconspicuous dark hairs at most; scutum dull, densely tessellate between very fine and close punctures, those on scutellum somewhat more distinct and more widely separated, axillae very finely and closely punctate; pleura dull, punctures rather coarse but very close, becoming crowded above, interspaces more or less tessellate, lateral faces of propodeum smoother but rather dull, posterior face with minute, vague, rather close punctures evident; anterior coxae bright yellow, the spines very slender and elongate, slightly diverging apically, with a few white hairs posteriorly, coxae largely bare but with a single, very robust, ferruginous bristle near anterior border, which is directed toward the spine, some dense, white pubescence at each extreme side; front trochanters and femora largely yellow, quite conspicuously fringed posteriorly, with dense, elongate, white pubescence; front tibiae yellow in large part, but somewhat more ferruginous on outer surface toward base; front basitarsus enormously expanded and very deeply excavated, the resulting scale slightly narrowed apically where it becomes somewhat more testaceous, tip of the scale reaching fully to tip of both 2nd and 3rd segments, 2nd very narrowly produced apically, its hind margin very narrow, hind margin of 3rd very much longer than 2nd, nearly as long as 1st, posterior fringe dense but rather short, largely whitish, more or less tipped with fuscous beneath; mid basitarsus very broadly flattened and expanded apically, broader than their tibiae but not quite equal in length, mid tibial spurs well developed, hind tarsi slender and simple; tegulae minutely and very closely punctate; wings subhyaline, faintly clouded apically, veins brownish-testaceous; abdominal terga 2-5 more or less deeply grooved or depressed across base, basal margin of grooves somewhat carinate, apical margins of terga quite deeply depressed and yellowish-hyaline, with entire, whitish, apical fasciae; basal tergum with rather copious, elongate, erect, pale pubescence, becoming quite dense at extreme sides, discal pubescence of 2 rather pale and elongate, 3 and 4 with very short, erect but rather dense, fuscous pubescence medially, this becoming less evident laterally, 5 with quite abundant, erect and somewhat more elongate, black pubescence; tergum 6 vertical, very densely and finely rugoso-punctate, punctures becoming somewhat more definite toward carina which is rather low, irregularly crenulate, with a somewhat obscure and indistinct, median emargination, median teeth of apical margin evident only as very low carinae which are about as near each other as to the obscure lateral angles; tergum 7 very low and inconspicuous, not produced medially; sterna 1-4 exposed, shining, quite deeply and distinctly punctate, punctures rather fine and close toward base of each plate, more sparse apically, apical margins quite abruptly depressed and yellowish-hyaline; apical margin of sternum 5 with a pair of oblique, slender processes, ‘margin between slightly incurved, setose area occupying much of plate, the setae fine and simple, those toward basal margin more robust (fig. 57); sternum 6 densely long pubescent on each extreme side apically, setose areas slightly separated, bilobate laterally, the lobes superimposed in part, the setae fine toward base, the more apical setae long, flexed and bulbous at base, apical lobe very broad and truncate; gonocoxites narrowed above base, obliquely compressed, slightly dilated apically, the tips somewhat bulbous and finely setose (fig. 58).
DISTRIBUTION—Georgia and Florida, west to California and Mexico, March to August.
FLOWER RECORDS—Amorpha, Brauneria, Erigeron, Helianthus, Saliva, Senecio and Verbena. Robertson (1929) records it on Coreopsis, Oenothera, Silphium and Verbesina.
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