|
Extracted from: Mitchell, T. 1962. Bees of the Eastern United States, I. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. 1-191.
FEMALE-Length 6 mm.; head and thorax
black, abdomen ferruginous basally, the apical half blackish; head much broader than
long; eyes very slightly convergent below;
clypeus broadly convex, flattened or very slightly impressed medially; labrum rather short,
broadly rounded, apex subtruncate, brownish
apically, becoming darker basally; mandibles
with a rather obscure, inner, subapical angle
or tooth, reddish-testaceous medially, somewhat deeper red apically; antennae blackish
basally, becoming somewhat more brownishpiceous apically, basal segment of flagellum
slightly broader than long, 2nd nearly as long
as broad, and length of the following segments
subequal to the breadth; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes and each other; face
below ocelli rather coarsely, deeply, distinctly
and closely punctate, but punctures not crowded, those on lower portion of face obscured by
quite dense tomentum, supraclypeal area dull,
very finely and irregularly punctured, clypeus with a few, rather close and very fine
punctures along upper margin, punctures becoming coarser but shallow and quite sparse
apically; vertex between eyes and ocelli somewhat shining, punctures very fine but deep
and distinct, slightly separated but not sparse,
hind margin somewhat roughened or obscurely
rugose, cheeks rather dull, obscurely rugosostriate above, becoming smooth and shining
below; wings subhyaline, with the usual three
submarginal cells, wins and stigma brownishtestaceous; tegulae testaceous-hyaline; legs
piceous basally, tarsi more reddish-testaceous;
scutum and scutellum somewhat shining, punctures quite deep and distinct, well separated
but hardly sparse, anterior margin becoming
rather finely rugoso-punctate, scutellum shining, punctures fine, deep and distinct, but
quite sparse on each side of a central, more
closely punctate area; pleura dull, densely
rugose; dorsal area of propodeum rather broad,
quite coarsely reticulate or irregularly striate,
lateral faces finely rugose above, becoming
quite coarsely and irregularly striate below,
posterior face coarsely reticulate; abdominal terga smooth and shining, basal tergum impunctate, terga 2 and 3 with very fine and
quite close punctures on basal half of disc,
apical half largely impunctate, apical margins
of all terga quite broadly impressed, impunctate, yellowish-hyaline.
MALE-Length 4-5 mm.; head and thorax
black, abdomen ferruginous, becoming black
apically; head considerably broader than long;
eyes rather strongly convergent below; clypeus rather narrow, rather strongly convex;
mandibles and labrum brownish-testaceous;
scape of antennae black, flagellum bright testaceous beneath, becoming more piceous above,
the more basal segments slightly broader than
long, those toward the apex about as long as
broad; lateral ocelli subequally distant from
eyes and each other; lower portion of face
obscured by dense, white pubescence, but clypeus somewhat exposed, punctures very fine,
slightly separated, face above antennae dull,
punctures deep, distinct, rather coarse and
close, becoming well separated but not sparse
on shining vertex, between eyes and ocelli,
hind margin becoming obscurely rugose;
cheeks above rather dull, very closely, finely
and obscurely punctate, becoming very finely
substriate posteriorly and below, lower surface
smooth and somewhat shining; wings hyaline,
with the usual three submarginal cells, veins
yellowish, stigma more brownish-testaceous,
tegulae yellowish-hyaline; basal segments of
legs piceous, tibiae narrowly ferruginous at
base and apex, tarsi yellowish-testaceous; scutum and scutellum shining, punctures deep,
distinct, rather coarse, rather widely separated
over posterior half of disc of scutum, becoming somewhat finer and closer but still well
separated between notaulices and tegulae, anterior margin very narrowly subrugose, punctures of scutellum rather sparse, becoming
slightly closer along narrow posterior border ;
pleura dull, densely and rather finely rugose;
dorsal area of propodeurn quite broad, rather
coarsely and quite completely rugoso-striate,
lateral faces irregularly striate anteriorly,
becoming more reticulate posteriorly, posterior face rather coarsely reticulate; abdominal
terga smooth and shining, basal tergum with
very minute, well separated punctures scattered across disc medially, tergum 2 more distinctly, deeply and closely punctate across base,
these becoming sparse near apical margin, 3
and 4 more minutely but rather closely punctate, apical margin of all terga rather broadly
depressed, entirely impunctate, yellowish-hyaline; gonostyli (fig. 117) short, barely exceeding penis valves, dilated, and with a slightly
concave, ventral lobe and an inner, subapical
dilation, apically with a very slender terminal
digitus which has a few very fine hairs, the gonocoxites excavated beneath and bearing
a dense fringe of pubescence.
DISTRIBUTION-Minnesota and Ontario to the New England States, south to
Missouri and North Carolina; April to September.
FLOWER RECORDS-Barbarea, Erigeron, Fagopyrum, Fragaria, Melilotus,
Rhus. Rubus, Solidago and Taraxacum.
Robertson (1929) records this species (as
Sphecodium cressonii) on the following additional genera: Antennaria, Asclepias, Aster, Boltonia, Ceanothus, Cryptotaenia,
Eryngium, Geum, Heracleum, Pastinaca,
Potentilla, Pycnanthemum, Rhamnus, Salix,
Viburnum and Zizia.
|
