Melissodes agilis Cressibm 1878

Melissodes agilis Cresson, 1878: 204 [♂‚].

     Lectotype ♂‚ [designated by Cresson 1916: 110]. USA, Texas, by Belfrage [ANSP no. 2315].

Melissodes aurigenia Cresson, 1878: 212 [♀, ♂‚] [synonymy by Lovell and Cockerell 1906: 110].

     Lectotype ♀ [designated by Cresson 1916: 112]. USA, Colorado [ANSP no. 2332].

Species Notes

LaBerge (1961) incorrectly indicates that M. aurigenia was originally described as a subspecies of M. agilis, though this was not indicated in the original description of that taxon (Cresson 1878).

Biology

LaBerge (1961), citing Rau (1922) briefly described the nest, possibly in the early stage of construction. LaBerge (1961) indicated that this species was oligolectic on Helianthus, though other composite flowers will be used (Robertson 1926).

References

Cresson ET (1878) Descriptions of new species of North American bees. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 30: 181-221.

Cresson ET (1916) The Cresson types of Hymenoptera. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 1: 1-141.

LaBerge WE (1961) A revision of the bees of the genus Melissodes in North and Central America. Part III (Hymenoptera, Apidae). The University of Kansas Science Bulletin 42(5): 283-663.

Lovell JH, Cockerell TDA (1906) Notes on the bees of southern Maine: Anthophoridae, Halictoididae, Macropidae and Panurgidae. Psyche 13(5): 109-113.

Rau P (1922) Ecological and behavior notes on Missouri insects. Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of St. Louis 24: 1-71.