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 10-11 mm.; dark blue, becoming greenish on vertex, dorsum of thorax and abdominal terga; face only slightly longer than distance between eyes above; eyes subparallel; lateral ocelli somewhat nearer each other than to eyes, and nearer eyes than margin of vertex; apical margin of clypeus somewhat produced, with a broad and deep, subquadrangular, median emargination (fig. 30); median length of labrum somewhat greater than basal width, slightly narrowed and truncate apically, with a sub-basal, transverse brush of hairs; mandibles rather slender and elongate, bi-dentate apically, with a small, inconspicuous, submedian tooth (fig. 32); width of cheeks nearly twice that of eyes; wings very lightly infuscated, 2nd recurrent vein reaching 2nd submarginal cell only slightly nearer apex than 1st does to base; tarsal segments simple and unmodified; front spurs brownish-hyaline, mid and hind spurs piceous; pubescence, including scopa, largely black, but pale with intermixed, rather long and erect fuscous hairs around antennae and on dorsum of thorax, entirely pale on basal abdominal tergum and on tergum 2 except apical margin; punctures deep and distinct in general, fine and quite close over most of head and on dorsum of thorax, becoming somewhat more widely separated but still quite close on scutum posteriorly and on scutellum, pleura and propodeum dull, punctures fine and almost crowded; punctures somewhat finer on abdominal terga medially, distinctly but not widely separated, becoming very fine toward sides, and uniformily close on tergum 5, densely crowded and minute on 6.
MALE—Length 9-10 mm.; dark blue, with greenish tints on face, vertex and dorsum of thorax; face only slightly longer than distance between eyes above; eyes somewhat convergent below; lateral ocelli somewhat nearer margin of vertex than to each other, somewhat more removed from eyes; clypeus rather strongly convex, apical margin considerably produced, nearly straight; median length of labrum nearly equal to basal width; mandible bi-dentate; cheeks considerably broader than eyes; wings very lightly infuscated, recurrent veins reaching 2nd submarginal cell sub- equally distant from base and apex; tarsal segments slender and simple, anterior margin of hind basitarsus with a small but distinct tooth near apical third; front spurs brownish-hyaline, mid and hind spurs piceous; pubescence elongate, largely pale on head and thorax, but with intermixed fuscous hairs on vertex, that on upper part of pleura and propodeum black; pubescence pale on abdominal terga 1 and 2, becoming obscurely darkened at apex of 2, entirely black, rather elongate and conspicuous on 3-6; punctures quite deep and distinct, rather fine and close in general, close but not crowded on vertex, cheeks and scutum, somewhat more widely separated on scutellum; pleura dull, with rather fine and densely crowded punctures; lateral faces of propodeum somewhat smoother, punctures fine and rather shallow, posterior face dull and tessellate, punctures becoming inevident medially, propodeal triangle dull and tessellate but rather smooth; punctures of abdominal terga somewhat finer, more distinctly separated medially on 1-5, becoming slightly closer toward extreme sides, 6 without a median, emarginate area, 7 rather evenly rounded, apex medially with a very shallow emargination; sternum 2 broadly rounded apically, largely covering 3 and to a considerable degree 4, 3 with a very broad, apical, emarginate area, this with a median, restricted, setose area, the setae converging along midline (fig. 33); apical margin of sternum 4 somewhat thickened and grooved (fig. 34), 5-8 entirely retracted, not markedly modified, 8 rather elongate, triangular, apex acute; gonocoxites of genital armature slender and elongate, apex with a subapical, ventral, slender projection (figs. 31 and 35).
DISTRIBUTION — British Columbia to Quebec and the New England states, south to California, Oklahoma and Georgia, March to June.
FLOWER RECORDS—Cercis, Fragaria, Geranium, Lupinus, Malus, Prunus, Rubus, Salix, Taraxacum, Vicia and Viola. Robertson (1929) records lignaria also on Camassia, Cardamine, Chaerophyllurn, Claytonia, Collinsia, Dentaria, Dicentra, Direa, Erigenia, Erythronium, Hydrophyllum, Mertensia, Osmorrhiza, Oxalis, Polymoniurn, Pyrus, Ranunculus, Ribes, Stellaria, Taenidia, Viburnum and Zanthoxylurn. The subspecific designation of lignaria is made necessary by the recognition of another subspecies, propinqua Cresson, that is found in the West.
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