© Copyright Laurence Packer 2014 · 7 Perdita perpallida FEM mm .x f

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• Perdita female
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• Perdita west female
• Perdita west male

Overview Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1960 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 141.


FEMALE: Length 6 mm.; entire body yellowish-testaceous, with piceous maculae; face slightly longer than distance between eyes; eyes subparallel; cheeks subequal to eyes in width; vertex rather broad, lateral ocelli sub- equally distant from its hind margin and from eyes; foveae narrow and elongate, dark fuscous; face with a pair of large fuscous blotches between antennae and ocelli, otherwise testaceous; mandibles, labrum, clypeus and lower inner orbits more whitish-testaceous; outer surface of scape testaceous, inner surface fuscous, flagellum testaceous beneath, slightly more reddish above; cheeks below with a large fuscous blotch; surface of head smooth but rather dull, punctures hardly visible; pubescence of head and thorax extremely short, thin and sparse, entirely white; thorax mainly testaceous, but central portion of mesothorax fuscous, scutellum and metanotum pale yellow; tegulae whitish-hyaline; wings whitish hyaline, veins and stigma pale yellow; legs largely yellow, but femora fuscous beneath; thoracic integument smooth but rather dull, with exceedingly minute, well separated punctures; abdominal terga 1-3 largely pale yellowish, but with narrow, subapical bands of fuscous, tergum 4 largely fuscous medially, becoming testaceous toward sides, all terga with narrow, apical, hyaline margins; abdominal integument smooth, but rather dull, punctures hardly visible.

MALE: Length 5 mm.; entire body yellow, more or less tinged with ferruginous above, with limited area of fuscous; face slightly longer than distance between eyes; eyes sub- parallel; cheeks slightly broader than eyes; vertex broad, lateral ocelli subequally distant from its hind margin and eyes; foveae very short, fuscous in color; mandibles, labrum, elypeus and lower inner orbits pale whitish- yellow, upper portion of face and cheeks more lemon-yellow, with rounded fuscous blotches between ocelli and eyes and somewhat larger blotches above antennae; lower portion of cheeks fuscous; scape reddish-testaceous on outer side, more or less infused with fuscous on inner side, flagellum reddish-testaceous; entire head smooth but rather dull, punctures hardly visible; pubescence of head and thorax exceedingly short, thin and sparse, entirely white; scutum reddish-testaceous, with a pair of longitudinal fuscous stripes on each side, scutellum and metanotum more definitely yellow, with small piceous spots laterally; pleura yellowish-testaceous above, piceous below; tegulae whitish-hyaline; wings whitish, veins and stigma pale yellow or nearly colorless; front and middle legs largely testaceous, tibiae piceous on inner surface and femora on their lower surface, hind legs mainly piceous; thoracic integument smooth but rather dull, punctures hardly visible; abdominal terga with broad, transverse, testaceous bands, more or less narrowly piceous apically, basal tergum piceous at extreme base, apical margins of all terga narrowly hyaline, surface smooth and impunctate; sternum 7 with a rather narrow, deep, rounded, median emargination, the two side produced to form acute spinose processes; apical portion of sternum 8 triangular, broader than long; gonostyli quite slender, strongly compressed, tips narrowly subacute, about equal in length to the slender penis valves, volsellae very short, divided to form a compressed cuspis and a shorter, slender digitus.

DISTRIBUTION: Alberta to Wisconsin; July.

FLOWER RECORD: Petalostemon.

There is considerable variation of color in this species, with the piceous areas much reduced, if not entirely absent, and the ground color becoming pale yellow.

Names Scientific source:

• Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist, Ascher and Pickering.
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Hosts · map
Family	Scientific name @ source (records)
Asteraceae	Helenium autumnale @ UCRC_ENT (6)
Fabaceae	Amorpha canescens @ UCRC_ENT (1); AMNH_BEE (5)
	Dalea candida @ AMNH_BEE (3)
	Dalea villosa @ UCRC_ENT (10); AMNH_BEE (38)
	Kuhnistera oligophylla @ UCRC_ENT (1)
	Kuhnistera purpurea @ UCRC_ENT (4)
	Kuhnistera villosa @ UCRC_ENT (2)
	Petalostemum @ AMNH_BEE (17)
Malvaceae	Sphaeralcea ambigua @ UCRC_ENT (1)
	Sphaeralcea incana @ UCRC_ENT (1)
	Sphaeralcea @ UCRC_ENT (2)