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 5.5 mm.; entire body brilliant green, more or less suffused with coppery or red; mandibles dark, with a small, inner, subapical tooth; clypeus above shining, punctures deep and distinct, rather sparse medially, becoming finer and closer laterally, apical half blackened, where punctures are much more coarse and rather close; supraclypeal area shining, punctures minute and rather sparse; face above antennae densely rugosopunctate and rather dull; cheeks somewhat shining below, microscopically lineolate or tessellate, becoming somewhat more dull and densely tessellate above; pubescence of head and thorax pale yellowish above, very short, becoming whitish below; scutum somewhat shining medially, punctures uniformly fine and very close throughout, except that the lateral, anterior angles become densely rugose; scutellum quite flat, minutely and closely punctate, slightly shining; pleura anteriorly reticulate, otherwise quite densely and rather finely rugose; dorsal area of propodeum considerably broader than metanotum, rather coarsely and uniformly striate, posterior margin somewhat rounded and smooth (in contrast with striata where the posterior margin is subcarinate), lateral faces rather dull, obscurely reticulate anteriorly becoming more tessellate posteriorly and posterior face tessellate; coxae, trochanters and femora largely greenish, tibiae more piceous, tarsi becoming brownish-testaceous apically; tegulae largely yellowish-hyaline, becoming somewhat more brownish-testaceous posteriorly; wings hyaline, veins and stigma pale testaceous; abdominal terga somewhat shining, punctures exceedingly minute and close, almost tessellate even on basal tergum, apical margins only slightly impressed, puncturation not greatly different from that of discs, pubescence very short but rather copious, entirely pale.
MALE—Length 5 mm.; entire body brilliant green, becoming in some specimens almost entirely coppery red; mandibles and labrum dull testaceous to yellowish; clypeus shining, punctures rather coarse and close, apical margin narrowly yellowish; supraclypeal area somewhat shining below, finely and rather closely punctate above; face above antennae rather dull, densely and very finely rugoso-punctate; cheeks below shining, with a few scattered, exceedingly minute punctures, becoming more dull and finely tessellate or lineolate above; scape black, flagellum brownish-ferruginous beneath, piceous above, the two basal segments very short, 3rd about as long as broad, the following segments successively more elongate, becoming about 2.5 times longer than broad; pubescence of head and thorax short, entirely pale, somewhat tinged with ochraceous above, whitish below; scutum shining, punctures rather well separated medially, very fine but distinct, becoming close, almost crowded laterally, and densely rugose in area of lateral apical angles; scutellum less shining, punctures much more close, minute anteriorly, becoming coarser and closer posteriorly; pleura coarsely rugose anteriorly, otherwise with densely crowded but rather distinct and coarse punctures, those just beneath wing bases very fine, dorsal area of propodeum slightly broader than metanotum, closely and quite distinctly striate, but posterior margin somewhat smooth and rounded, lateral faces dull, finely and irregularly roughened, posterior face irregularly roughened or in part punctate; tegulae yellowish anteriorly, becoming more testaceous posteriorly; wings hyaline, veins and stigma testaceous; coxae, trochanters and femora green, mid and hind tibiae somewhat tinged with green, but otherwise testaceous, front tibiae and all tarsi yellowish-testaceous; apical half of hind basitarsi with elongate hairs, the basal half with short hairs; abdominal terga somewhat shining, basal tergum with minute but rather deep and distinct, very close punctures, those on 2 somewhat more close and obscure, 3 and 4 becoming more tessellate, apical margins rather broadly but shallowly impressed apically, rims faintly blackened, pubescence rather short but copious, entirely pale; apical margin of sternum 4 broadly incurved; gonostyli extremely short, composed of a very short, truncate, outer lobe and a broad, rounded, inner lobe which bears a marginal fringe of setae; cuspis small, the digitus of volsellae broadly rounded; dorsal excavation of penis valves more restricted, with a distinct subcarinate posterior margin, tips considerably exceeding the gonostyli.
DISTRIBUTION—Northern Mexico to Colorado, Minnesota and the New England states, south to Florida; May to October.
FLOWER RECORDS—Agastache, Althaea, Apocynum, Asclepias, Barbarea, Ceanothus, Cotoneaster, Lotus, Malva, Melilotus, Monarda, Rhus, Salvia, Solidago, Taraxacum and Trifolium. Robertson (1929) records aurata (as Oxystoglossa similis) on the following additional genera: Alisma, Ammannia, Amorpha, Antennaria, Anthemis, Arabis, Asclepias, Asparagus, Aster, Blephilia, Brauneria, Camassia, Capsella, Cardamine, Cassia, Cerastium, Chrysanthemum, Claytonia, Coreopsis, Cornus, Crataegus, Cuphea, Dianthera, Diospyros, Erigeron, Eupatorium, Fragaria, Geranium, Geum, Gnaphalium, Hedeoma, Helianthus, Heuchera, Houstonia, Hypoxis, Krigia, Lepidium, Lespedeza, Lippia, Ludwigia, Lycopus, Nothoscordum, Parthenium, Petalostemon, Plantego, Polemonium, Polytaenia, Potentilla, Prunus, Pycnanthemum, Radicula, Ranunculus, Rubus, Rudbeckia, Sabatia, Sagittaria, Salix, Senecio, Sisymbrium, Sisyrinchium, Smilacina, Smilax, Specularia, Stellaria, Symphoricarpus, Taenidia, Thaspium, Tradescantia, Valerianella, Verbena, Verbesina, Veronica and Zizia.
There is still some question concerning the true identity of Halictus xystris Vachal. The type series has been examined by Padre S. Moure and some notes on the lectotype received from him indicate the probability that it lies within the range of variation of aurata.
|
