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 mm., breadth of abdomen 4 mm.; black, including clypeus, labrum and base of mandibles, the mandibles slightly reddened apically; segments of flagellum beyond the 1st brownish-testaceous beneath, piceous above; apical tarsal segments becoming testaceous; spurs pale yellow; tegulae piceous anteriorly, becoming testaceous-hyaline posteriorly; wings hyaline, veins testaceous to brownish; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; clypeus quite flat, its median length considerably less than distance between eyes below; eyes slightly convergent below; shorter side of segment 2 of flagellum slightly more than half the length of basal segment and slightly greater than apical width; clypeus coarsely and closely punctate, punctures becoming very fine and crowded toward apical margin, those on labrum fine and close medially, becoming rather widely separated laterally; mandibles very short, length less than twice the basal width; supraclypeal area narrowly impunctate medially, lateral areas of face below antennae finely and rather closely punctate, becoming very minutely and sparsely so above antennae, surface shining and largely impunctate between eyes and ocelli; vertex closely and finely punctate behind ocelli; cheeks rather closely punctate posteriorly, becoming shining and very minutely punctate along margin of eye; scutum somewhat shining between deep, distinct and rather coarse punctures, these rather widely separated over posterior half, becoming closer and somewhat finer laterally and anteriorly, those on scutellum rather fine, well but not widely separated; punctures of pleura deep, distinct, rather coarse and close, becoming very fine and close posteriorly; posterior face of propodeum quite closely but rather shallowly punctate, dorsal area dull, finely reticulate along upper margin medially, but with a few coarse striations at each side, lateral faces dull, quite closely but shallowly punctate, punctures becoming somewhat finer anteriorly and below; basal half of basal abdominal tergum closely and quite coarsely. punctate, punctures becoming finer but nearly reaching apical: margin at each side, the broad, median, apical area impunctate; basal half of discs of terga 2 and 3 finely and quite closely punctate, punctures crowded on 3 laterally, apical areas smooth, with only exceedingly minute, obscure punctures evident; terga 4 and 5 finely and densely punctate across base; pygidium elongate-triangular, apex very narrowly rounded; head with some scattered, elongate, dark hairs across vertex, but otherwise whitish pubescent, with a dense, elongate, whitish fringe behind vertex and cheeks; scutellum and posterior two-thirds of scutum with rather copious, erect, fuscous pubescence, anterior third of scutum with erect, dull whitish pubescence which reaches narrowly along lateral margins to propodeum, the pleura and propodeum entirely whitish pubescent; legs generally pale pubescent, with some more brownish hairs on basitarsi beneath, the hind tibial scopa pale yellowish, densely short plumose; basal abdominal tergum quite copiously-, short, ochraceous pubescent anteriorly and laterally, largely bare apically; tergum 2 with a basal, whitish fascia that is largely obscured by the margin of tergum 1, and with a submedian, whitish fascia that fringes the apical impressed area, this slightly interrupted medially, disc otherwise with very thin and short, inconspicuous, pale hairs basally, apical area quite bare; terga 3 and 4 with sub- median, pale fasciae bordering apical impressed area, basal area of 3 with some inconspicuous, thin, whitish tomentum and some more erect, somewhat darker but rather short hairs, apical area bare, 4 with more elongate and erect dark pubescence basally, apical area thinly, white tomentose, interrupted medially, tomentose area thus largely occupying apical half of disc; terga 5 and 6 largely dark pubescent, with some pale, elongate hairs at extreme sides.
MALE�Length 9 mm., breadth of abdomen 3.5 mm.; black, including labrum and base of mandibles, the latter with a subapical, yellowish maculation; clypeus entirely yellow; antennal flagellum pale testaceous beneath, somewhat darker above; the more apical tarsal segments testaceous, with basitarsi largely dark, spurs pale yellowish; tegulae rather dark anteriorly, becoming more testaceous posteriorly, quite densely pubescent; wings whitish-hyaline, veins pale testaceous to brownish; impressed apical margins of abdominal terga pale yellowish-hyaline; cheeks slightly narrower than eyes; clypeus only very slightly protuberant, its median length about half the distance between eyes below; eyes rather strongly convergent below; basal segment of flagellum very short, subequal to pedicel, shorter side� -much less than apical width, segment. 2- nearly four times combined length of segment 1 and pedicel; punctures of clypeus close and not very coarse, inconspicuous on the yellow surface, those of labrum close and fine medially, becoming rather sparse on each side; supraclypeal area shining and impunctate medially, lateral areas of face somewhat shining between minute, slightly separated punctures, these becoming even more minute between eyes and ocelli above, median area below ocelli somewhat more distinctly punctate; punctures very- fine and quite close on vertex behind ocelli; cheeks shining, punctures hardly visible except along narrow posterior margin; punctures of scutum coarse, deep and distinct, quite sparse in center posteriorly, becoming relatively fine and close laterally and anteriorly, quite coarse on scutellum, well separated but hardly sparse; pleura somewhat shining between deep, distinct, rather fine, slightly separated punctures; posterior face of propodeum rather dull, punctures rather shallow and irregularly scattered, dorsal area dull, irregularly rugose along upper margin, lateral faces somewhat shining between the numerous, rather close, shallow and vague punctures; discs of abdominal terga with deep, distinct and rather close punctures, these rather coarse on basal tergum, becoming increasingly fine on the more apical terga, much closer on tergum 4, apical impressed areas largely impunctate, invaded only slightly by very minute, obscure punctures; tergum 5 only obscurely angulate at each extreme side, tergum 6 with a rather short but slender apical spine on each side; pubescence quite long and copious, entirely pale yellowish-white on head, thorax, legs and basal abdominal tergum, rather short and inconspicuous on basal areas of terga, the apical impressed areas fringed basally with more or less dense, conspicuous, pale ochraceous fasciae which are broader laterally, much thinner or interrupted medially, especially on the more basal plates, entire and subapical on 4 and 5, the erect basal pubescence thin but entirely pale; terga 5 and 6 pale tomentose to the rims; median length of pygidial plate about equal to basal width, margins sharply carinate, slightly convergent apically to the abruptly constricted tip which is rather narrowly subtruncate.
DISTRIBUTION � Alberta and North Dakota to Mexico, east to Illinois, June to October.
FLOWER RECORDS�LaBerge (1961) lists species of the following: Amphiachyris, Amorpha, Aster, Bidens, Boltonia, Chrysopsis, Chrysothamnus, Cirsium, Clematis, Cleome, Cooperia, Convolvulus, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Echinacea, Erucastrum, Eryngium, Eupatorium, Euphorbia, Eustoma, Gaillardia, Geranium, Gossypium, Grindelia, Gutierrezia, Haplopappus, Helenium, Heterotheca, Helianthus, Heliopsis, Marrubium, Medicago, Melilotus, Monarda, Nepeta, Opuntia, Parosela, Petalostemum, Prionopsis, Psoralea, Ratibida, Rudbeckia, Salsola, Siphium, Solidago, Tetragonotheca, Tetraneuris, Trifolium, Verbena, Verbensina and Vernonia.
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