Abdomen, upper side, color pattern | Forewing, 1st intercubital vein | Head, mandible, shape | Hind legs, scopa, hair type - If filled with pollen usually impossible to determine | State or province where bee was collected | Subgenus | The opening page offers a limited set of characters from which to choose. Click on any trait states that you can confidently assess, and then use the SEARCH button to activate your choices. This will return a set of species matches on the left . Next, select SIMPLIFY and the screen will present a new set of characters. | Thorax, upper and side surfaces, color pattern | Wings, color of veins

Check boxes for all that apply. If uncertain, skip character or select several states. Then click on any search button.
Navigate with above index or scroll bar.
Number scored for a state is in green.
1. The opening page offers a limited set of characters from which to choose. Click on any trait states that you can confidently assess, and then use the SEARCH button to activate your choices. This will return a set of species matches on the left . Next, select SIMPLIFY and the screen will present a new set of characters.    [Explain]

1DO NOT CLICK THIS BUTTON -- Please click on the EXPLAIN button for a link to a guide to using Discover Life. A link to a Google Drive folder with additional keys and other identification resources is also provided.   

2. State or province where bee was collected    [Explain]

16AL    11AR    1Alberta    1CO    6CT    7DC    17DE    22FL    18GA    12IA    12IL    12IN    16KS    6KY    14LA    7MA    17MD    3ME    11MI    15MN    16MO    16MS    1MT    18NC    10ND    14NE    2NH    17NJ    1NM    11NY    1New Brunswick    1Nova Scotia    8OH    16OK    8Ontario    10PA    1Prince Edward Island    3Quebec    4RI    18SC    12SD    1Saskatchewan    6TN    13TX    1UT    17VA    2VT    12WI    6WV    1WY   
3. Thorax, upper and side surfaces, color pattern    [Explain]

2All pale, may have a few dark markings    5Dark with pale marking on pronotal lobe only    17Dark with pale markings on pronotum AND pronotal lobes    10Dark with pale markings on pronotum only    2Dark with pale markings on pronotum, pronotal lobe, and side surfaces    11Entirely dark with NO markings   
4. Abdomen, upper side, color pattern    [Explain]

16Dark with light colored PATCHES on the sides of two or more segments    7Dark with light colored bands that are BROAD and COMPLETE, extending across the entire middle of two or more segments    20Dark with light colored bands that extend across two or more segments, but are briefly INTERRUPTED in the center    10Dark, NO markings or with only 2 small patches on only one segment    4Pale yellow, orange, reddish, ferruginous   
5. Wings, color of veins

20Clear to milky white or pale yellow with a light coloured stigma - stigma sometimes with dark edges    19Light to dark brown    1Pale yellow with a conspicuously dark stigma   
6. Forewing, 1st intercubital vein

6Branched, forming a triangular additional cell at its base that can range from large and conspicuous to minute and visible only under high magnification    25Simple, no branching, nor any additional tiny cell   
7. Head, mandible, shape

30Normal, tip NOT flexed relative to base, may be gently curved toward head    2Tip flexed toward the head at nearly a right angle relative to base   
8. Hind legs, scopa, hair type - If filled with pollen usually impossible to determine    [Explain]

18At least half of scopal hairs are SIMPLE, ABSOLUTELY unbranched - Some branched hairs usually present along sides and near base - Careful, branches can be minute and scale-like, very easy to mistake as simple    10Hairs are mostly BRANCHED, these branches are MINUTE and short, often scale-like, usually set at an acute angle to the mainstem regularly spaced throughout the last two-thirds of the hair, and visible only at high magnification, hairs along the edges with slightly longer branches which often lead to the mistake that the remaining hairs are without branches    2Hairs are relatively longer and more abundant than other species and clearly WAVY rather than straight   
9. Subgenus

6Alloperdita    2Cockerellia    1Epimacrotera    8Hexaperdita    16Perdita