Reprinted with permission from: Mitchell, T.B. 1962 Bees of the Eastern United States. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin No. 152.
QUEEN—Length 17-19 mm., breadth of abdomen 9-10 mm.; black, apical tarsal segments somewhat more piceous, spurs reddish-piceous, tegulae black; wings uniformly and rather deeply infuscated, veins brownish to piceous; pubescence rather short, entirely black on head, yellow on pronotum, tubercles, adjacent area of pleura above, anterior margin of scutum, and abdominal terga 2 and 3, otherwise black including that on legs and on base of abdomen; scutellum yellow or black, with varying degrees of intermixture; corbicular fringe of elongate, usually black hairs; hind basitarsi with very fine, appressed, pale pruinose hairs; clypeus finely and rather densely punctate laterally and above, the broad median area shining and more minutely and rather closely punctate; labrum rather broadly subtruncate, with a basal elevated ridge which is slightly interrupted medially, apical margin of this area broadly rounded, slightly elevated above margin on each side fringed with rather elongate, yellowish hairs; apex of mandible with a rather broad
deep, rounded emargination toward the inferior angle, and a pair of distinct notches toward the upper angle, outer face toward base shining and very minutely, irregularly punctate; malar space smooth and shining, only very minutely and obscurely punctate, length slightly less than basal width of mandible, about one-fourth length of eye; punctures very fine and close on face medially, becoming somewhat more distinct but still close toward ocelli, surface laterad of ocelli rather narrowly shining and impunctate, becoming finely but rather distinctly punctate toward eye, vertex very densely and finely punctate medially, punctures becoming somewhat more distinct but still close laterally; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes, margin of vertex and each other; antennal scape approximately half total length of flagellum, basal segment of flagellum slighty longer than segment 3, and 3 slightly longer than 2 which is about as broad as long; posterior margin of hind basitarsus quite broadly outcurved, median breadth slightly more than one-third the length; tergum 6 smooth and shining, with exceedingly minute scattered and rather sparse punctures, apex narrowly rounded.
WORKER—Length 9-14 mm., breadth of abdomen 5-7 mm.; resembles queen in general, but pubescence relatively longer.
MALE—Length 13-17 mm., breadth of abdomen 6-8 mm.; black, apical tarsal segments somewhat more piceous, spurs brownish, tegulae piceous to black; wings lightly infuscated or subhyaline, veins brownish to piceous; pubescence copious and elongate in general, large. 1y pale yellowish on clypeus, but with intermixed black hairs laterally, and chiefly black around antennae, vertex with pale yellowish hairs medially, more or less intermixed with black, especially laterally, cheeks with blackish pubescence above becoming somewhat paler below; pubescence pale yellowish on pronotum, tubercles, anterior margin of scutum, pleura in large part, and usually scutellum, fuscous on propodeum and black over posterior two-thirds of scutum; abdominal terga 2 and $ with bright yellow pubescence, 1 and 5-6 largely black, sometimes with some pale hairs on 6 and 7 laterally and apically; basal segments of legs, including femora, with elongate, generally pale pubescence, dark on tibiae, with posterior fringes of rather elongate hairs which may be pale in part, hind tibiae fringed with elongate, intermixed, light and dark hairs; hind basitarsi nearly bare above, densely clothed beneath with very short, brownish-ochraceous hairs; clypeus very finely and closely but quite distinctly punctate beneath dense pubescence; labrum quite smooth and shining, with only very minute and vague punctures medially, broadly subtruncate apically; mandibles slender, distinctly bidentate apically, densely ochraceous pubescent on out. or lace, lower margin fringed with long, ochraceous or yellowish hairs; malar space shining, punctures very vague and minute, length about equal to basal width of mandible, about one-fifth length of eye; median area of face very finely and closely punctate, the punctures becoming somewhat more distinct and more widely separated toward ocelli, surface laterad of ocelli shining and impunctate, punctures very fine and closely crowded on vertex medially, becoming somewhat more distinct laterally; lateral ocelli subequally distant from eyes, margin of vertex and each other; basal segment of flagellum subequal to segment 3, segment 2 somewhat shorter, about as broad as long; outer surface of hind tibiae rather flat, quite broad and entirely impunctate except toward the narrow margins; hind basitarsi gradually narrowed from center to base, which is very slightly broader than apex; sterna 7 and 8 and genital armature as shown (fig. 133).
DISTRIBUTION — In the East, Nova Scotia to Florida, April to October.
FLOWER RECORDS — Rhododendron, Rosa, Rubus, Vaccinium and Vicia. Brittain and Newton (1933) also record this species on Lonicera, Phleum, Pinus(?). Pyrus malus and Sails,.
This species can be easily confused with pennsylvanicus, but in that species the malar space is somewhat longer, the scutellum in the queen and workers is always black pubescent, and the basal abdominal tergum is yellow at least in part. In males the abdominal terga 1-5 are yellow pubescent, contrasting with the limitation of yellow to terga 2 and 3 in terricola.
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