Colletes albescens Cresson, 1868
Properties
Scientific Name: Colletes albescens Cresson, 1868
Common Name: White Plasterer Bee
Taxonomy
Colletes albescens Cresson, 1868: 168 [♀].
Holotype ♀. USA, Illinois, by Samuel Lewis [ANSP no. 2150].
Taxonomic notes: The ♂ was described by Stephen (1954: 335).
The name Colletes albescens was also proposed by Noskiewicz (1936) for a new species of Colletes from the Iberian Peninsula, but as that name was preoccupied by the North American species described by Cresson (1868), Stephen (1952: 355) proposed the replacement name Colletes noskiewiczi for the Old World species.
DNA Barcode Index Number (BIN): N/A
Distribution in Canada: Stephen 1954 [MB]; Hurd 1979 [MB]; Sheffield et al. 2014 [MB].
Swenk (1925: 4) provided a detailed discussion of this species being confused with what would later be desribed as C. susannae Swenk, because of differences noted by H. L. Viereck, and Swenk; C. Robertson did not share the opinion (see Swenk 1925: 4). Swenk (1925: 5) recorded this species as far north as South Dakota; Stephen (1954: 337) a distribution into Canada (Manitoba, Aweme), though Gibbs et al. (2023) indicated that the material from Manitoba examined by Stephen (1954) was likely misidentified, so its presence in Canada has not been confirmed. Perhaps the material examined by Stephen (1954) from Canada was C. susannae, a species that has been confirmed from Manitoba (Gibbs et al. 2023).
Body length: ♀ 10-11 mm ♂ 9.5 mm
Forewing length: ♀ 6 mm ♂ 6 mm
References
Cresson ET (1868) Descriptions of North American Bees.—No. 1. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 12: 165-171.
Hurd PD (1979) Superfamily Apoidea. In: Krombein KV, Hurd Jr PD, Smith DR, Burks BD (Eds) Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 2735 pp.
Sheffield CS, Frier SD, Dumesh D (2014) The bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Apiformes) of the Prairies Ecozone, with comparisons to other grasslands of Canada. In: Giberson DJ, Cárcamo HA (Eds) Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands (Volume 4): Biodiversity and Systematics Part 2. 4. Biological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, 479 pp. [ISBN 978-0-9689321-7-9].https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3752/9780968932179.ch11
Stephen WP (1954) A revision of the bee genus Colletes in America north of Mexico (Hymenoptera Colletidae). University of Kansas Science Bulletin 36: 149-527.
Swenk MH (1925) Two new bees of the genus Colletes, oligotropic upon Petalostemum. American Museum Novitates 186: 1-9.
Gibbs J, Hanuschuk E, Miller R, Dubois M, Martini M, Robinson S, Nakagawa P, Sheffield CS, Onuferko T (2023) A checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Manitoba, Canada. The Canadian Entomologist 155: E3.https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2022.45
Sociality: Solitary
Nesting: Ground
Pollen Specialization: Narrow Oligolecty
Wintering Stage: Mature Larva
Crop Preference: Not Available
Non Crop Preference: Amorpha canescens, Dalea purpurea
Distribution: Manitoba
Ecozone: Prairie