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Extracted from: Robertson, C. (1897). North American Bees - Description and Synonyms. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. Vol. 7. No. 14.
In this excerpt, Melissodes confusus is known as the now synonymized Melissodes confusa.
I have compared the description of the latter with a type
specimen of M. confusa sent for examination, by M. Fox.
There is no difference whatever except that the New Mexican
insect has black hair's on base of dorsal segments. The type
shows a slight indication of black hairs here, while on the
scutellum and posterior disc of mesonotum black hairs are
present. The female shows black hair's on the thorax above
and base of abdominal segments. The presence of similar
hairs in the male only increases the probability that they
belong together. Cockerell's description of the sixth segment
of abdomen is exact for the male type specimen of M. confusa before me.
Extracted from: Mellissodes tenuitarasis Cockerell, 1905 Psyche 12, p. 100
Male .—Length about 9 mm; black, shining, head and thorax with rather abundant, long, dull white hair, nowhere mixed with black, the disc of thorax nude; eyes light grey; facial quadrangle nearly square, but broader above than below front bare, very black and shining; clypeus bright lemon-yellow, its anterior edge black; labrum black; mandibles black, the apical half reddened; antennae nearly 9 mm long, entirely dark, the flagellum obscurely reddish beneath, without pale does, the joints with more or less distinct longitudinal keels; mesothorax very shiny, with close well-defined punctures; at the posterior middle the punctures are sparse; scutellum similarly shiny and punctured, and with a little median.
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