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Melitoma taurea (Say, 1837)
Anthophora taurea Say, 1837; Entechnia (Anthophora) taurea (Say, 1837); Podalirius taureus (Say, 1837); Entechnia taurea (Say, 1837)

Life   Insecta   Hymenoptera   Apoidea   Apidae   Melitoma
Subgenus: None

Melitoma taurea, Mid-Atlantic Phenology
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Melitoma taurea, Mid-Atlantic Phenology

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Melitoma taurea, m, back, Baltimore City Co., MD
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Melitoma taurea, m, back, Baltimore City Co., MD
Melitoma taurea, m, face, Baltimore City Co., MD
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Melitoma taurea, m, face, Baltimore City Co., MD

Melitoma taurea, m, side, Baltimore City Co., MD
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Melitoma taurea, m, side, Baltimore City Co., MD
Melitoma taurea, Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Melitoma taurea, Barcode of Life Data Systems

Melitoma taurea, Johnny
Johnny · 1
Melitoma taurea, Johnny
Melitoma taurea, Johnny1
Johnny · 1
Melitoma taurea, Johnny1

Melitoma taurea, Johnnyfemale
Johnny · 1
Melitoma taurea, Johnnyfemale
Overview

The following material taken with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962. Bees of the Eastern United States, Volume II. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. Tech. Bul. No.152, 557 p.

Melitoma resembles Ptilothrix in wing venation, in the entirely black clypeus of both sexes, and in the broadly convex vertex. The basal segment, of the flagellum is nearly equal to the scape and to segments 2-4 combined in both sexes. It differs from Ptilothrix in having distinct arolia between the claws., The scopal hairs on the hind tibiae and basitarsi of the female are rather elongate and very finely plumose.


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 10-12.5 mm., breadth of abdomen 4-5.5 mm.; entirely black, including antennae, legs, spurs and tegulae, only the mandibles with an obscure, subapical, testaceous infusion; wings whitish-hyaline, veins testaceous to blackish; cheeks slightly narrower than eyes; clypeus rather strong protuberant, its median length slightly less than half of the distance between eyes (fig. 69); eyes sub- parallel; mandibles with an obscure, inner subapical angle; breadth of labrum considerably greater than median length, apical margin somewhat thickened, very slightly outcurved; basal segment of flagellum slightly longer than segments 2-4 combined; punctures of clypeus coarse and deep, slightly separated above, becoming quite close apically and laterally, those of labrum deep, distinct and uniformly close; lateral surface of face below antennae shining, very minutely punctate, the more median punctures above deep and distinct, rather fine and close, becoming minute and well separated toward margin of eye, surface between eyes and lateral ocelli polished and largely impunctate; cheeks shining, with rather fine, well separated but distinct punctures beneath the rather sparse pubescence; scutum somewhat shining between coarse, deep and close punctures, these becoming somewhat more shallow and close along anterior margin; scutellum with much finer, very close punctures throughout; pleura somewhat shining, punctures quite coarse and deep, slightly separated, becoming rather fine and close anteriorly; posterior face of propodeum rather dull, punctures very fine, indistinct, slightly separated, dorsal area impunctate but dull and finely tessellate, lateral faces somewhat shining, finely and indistinctly punctate below; discs of abdominal terga with very fine and close punctures, apical margin of basal tergum rather broadly impunctate, the shallowly impressed apical area of tergum 2 much more minutely but closely and fully punctate, terga 3-5 not noticeably impressed apically; pygidium small, very narrow, elongate, apex very narrowly rounded; pubescence of head and thorax rather short but quite copious, whitish on face and cheeks, with some erect, elongate, fuscous hairs below ocelli and across vertex, but this fringed posteriorly with shorter white hairs; scutum with fine, densely plumose pubescence anteriorly, this extended along mid-line nearly to posterior margin, the lateral margins and posterior border quite densely pale pubescent, with a broad arcuate band of fuscous pubescence separating the areas of light pubescence, originating in close proximity to a tuft of fuscous hairs on tuber- des; scutellum largely fuscous pubescent, but with a narrow posterior fringe of pale hairs that are continuous with similar pubescence on propodeum; lateral surfaces of propodeum and pleura in large part fuscous pubescent, anterior faces of pleura pale pubescent, and a smaller tuft of whitish pubescence posteriorly; legs largely black pubescent, but front femora with a posterior fringe of whitish hairs, some pale hairs on outer surface of the front tibiae; mid tibiae and basitarsi with some pale pubescence on outer face; hind tibial scopa entirely black, hairs very finely plumose; basal abdominal tergum with some short, greyish pubescence basally, this broadened on each side to occupy the entire lateral margin; terga 2-4 with very narrow, dense, white, apical fasciae, discs otherwise covered with very short, inconspicuous but rather dense black pubescence; terga 5 and 6 entirely black pubescent, hairs somewhat more elongate. MALE—Length 9.5-12 mm., breadth of abdomen 4-5 mm.; black, antennal flagellum, mandibles and tibial spurs somewhat more piceous, apical tarsal segments becoming brownish, tegulae black; wings whitish-hyaline, veins testaceous to piceous; cheeks somewhat narrower than eyes; clypeus quite strongly protuberant, its median length half the distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; mandibles slender and simple, rather strongly reflexed; breadth of labrum considerably greater than its median length, apical margin thickened, broadly subtruncate medially; punctures of clypeus rather coarse, somewhat finer and closer along mid-line, becoming more distinctly separated on each side, those on labrum rather uniformly deep and close; punctures of face very minute and indistinct laterally, becoming quite deep and somewhat coarser medially, rather coarse between antennae and ocelli, surface between ocelli and eyes smooth and shining, very sparsely punctate; cheeks shining, punctures quite coarse, deep and distinct along posterior margin, becoming minute and indefinite toward margin of eye; punctures of scutum quite coarse and deep, slightly separated medially on posterior half, becoming finer and quite close anteriorly; scutellum shining, punctures uniformly fine and close; pleura somewhat shining between deep and rather coarse punctures, these somewhat separated medially, becoming finer and closer anteriorly; posterior face of propodeum rather smooth and shining medially, dorsal area becoming dull, densely tessellate and impunctate across upper margin, with only a few scattered, minute punctures on posterior face below, lateral faces somewhat shining between rather fine, deep and distinct, slightly separated punctures; abdominal terga minutely and quite closely punctate throughout, basal tergum rather broadly impunctate across apical margin; broad apical impressed area of tergum 2 somewhat more minutely punctate than basal area; terga 3-6 not noticeably impressed apically, disc of each quite uniformly, finely and closely punctate; pubescence of head and thorax quite copious and dense but rather short, face and cheeks with largely whitish or pale yellowish pubescence, vertex with some erect, fuscous hairs, and a few similar hairs below level of ocelli on each side; scutum with fine, densely plumose pubescence anteriorly, this extended along mid-line nearly to posterior margin, lateral margins and posterior border quite densely pale pubescent, with a broad arcuate band of fuscous pubescence separating the areas of light pubescence, originating in close proximity to a tuft of fuscous hairs on tubercles; scutellum largely fuscous pubescent, but with a narrow posterior fringe of pale hairs that are continuous with similar pubescence on propodeum; pleura and propodeum largely pale pubescent, but propodeum with a tuft of elongate, more fuscous hairs just posterior to wing bases on propodeum; pubescence of front and middle legs largely pale, basitarsi with dark brownish or fuscous pubescence beneath, more brownish on outer face; hind coxae, trochanters and femora largely pale pubescent, tibiae with short, appressed pale hairs on outer face except toward apex but with more elongate and erect fuscous pubescence on inner face, basitarsi largely fuscous or brownish pubescent; terga 2-4 with very narrow, dense, white, apical fasciae, discs otherwise covered with very short, inconspicuous but rather dense, black pubescence; tergum 5 with a narrow, dense, white, apical fascia, the disc black pubescent, and tergum 6 white tomentose apically, the fascia somewhat less definite, discs black pubescent but with some pale hairs across base; sterna 7 and 8. and genital armature as shown (fig(. 70).

DISTRIBUTION — Kansas to Virginia and Florida, March to May in Florida, June to September elsewhere.

FLOWER RECORDS — Ipomoea. A few specimens have been collected on Clitoria and Oenothera, but no pollen-collecting activity was observed. Robertson (1929) includes collections on Asclepias, Cirsium, Convolvulus and Hibiscus.

Names
Scientific source:

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FamilyScientific name @ source (records)
Convolvulaceae  Ipomoea pandurata @ UCRC_ENT (1)
_  caneberry @ NLA (8)

cucurbit @ NLA (26)

strawberry @ NLA (2)

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Following served from Jerry A. Payne, USDA ARS, www.invasive.org
   
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