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Species Epeolus autumnalis

Cuckoo Bee - Epeolus autumnalis - female Bee ID Request - Epeolus autumnalis - female Cuckoo Bee - Epeolus autumnalis - female Cuckoo Bee - Epeolus autumnalis - female Epeolus sp.? - Epeolus autumnalis - female Cuckoo bee - Epeolus autumnalis - Epeolus autumnalis - female hymenoptera 1 - Epeolus autumnalis - male hymenoptera 1 - Epeolus autumnalis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees)
Family Apidae (Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees)
Subfamily Nomadinae (Cuckoo Bees)
Tribe Epeolini
Genus Epeolus
Species autumnalis (Epeolus autumnalis)
Other Common Names
Fall epeolus
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
None.
Size
Female 9 to 11 mm. Male 7 to 9 mm.
Identification
Head: Black. Lower face has pale yellowish hairs, denser on inner eye margin. Male lower face has more dense whiter hairs.
Antenna: Black – females 10 segments, males 11.
Thorax: Black, all segments more or less outlined in pale yellow.
Collar (pronotum) yellow stripe not interrupted at center.
Segment 1 (scutum) has 2 yellow median lines each side of center.
Segment 2 (scutellum) has black spines (axillae) at each side edge not protruding.
Segment 3 (propodeum) has yellowish spots curving inward on each side.
Thorax sides have some yellowish hairs below wing bases, more so on male. Tubercles are faint reddish-brown surrounded with a yellow fringe of hairs. Underside of thorax dense silvery on male only.
Wings: Wing knobs (tegulae) reddish. Wings darkly tinted (lighter on male), tips darker.
Legs: Thighs (femora) blackish. Shins (tibiae), feet (tarsi) and spurs reddish. Hind leg colors darker on male.
Abdomen: Black with all pale yellow stripes on all segments, either slightly indented or slightly interrupted at center.
Segment 1 has a stripe at both the base and lower rim, and joined at side edges.
Segment 5 female has a large spot on each side of center.
Female tip is a triangular patch of silvery-white hairs.
Male has 1 to 6 striped and slightly interrupted at center.
Underside of segments 2 to 4 striped.
Range
Mass., Michigan. Canada: Ontario.
Habitat
Forest edges and meadows.
Season
September only.
Food
The Hosts section on its Discover Life species page lists known associations based on specimen records and images.
Life Cycle
Females lay eggs in ground-nesting cells of Plasterer bees, (Colletes compactus) larva hatch and kill the Plasterer bee egg and feed on the provisions of pollen and nectar stored in the cell.
Remarks
Types:
Lectotype female by Robertson, 1902. #9528. In Illinois Natural History Survey. Lectotype designated by LaBerge in 1979.
Holotype male by Mitchell, 1960 in author's collection. Locality: Michigan by A. W. Andrews Sep 23, 1923. Type specimen location unknown.
See Also
Similar Species: E. canadensis has collar (pronotum) yellow stripe interrupted at center. The two yellow median stripes on thorax segment 1 (scutum) are joined to become V-shaped. The lower stripe on abdomen segment 1 has a much wider gap than E. autumnalis and abdominal segment 5 is either continuous or with a slight gap at center. On E. autumnalis segment 5 has spot at each side. The differences on segment 5 can be very slight between the two species. Epeolus canadensis flies very late June to very early August. E. autumnalis flies only in September.
E. pusillus and E. scutellaris have red thighs (femora), not black.
Internet References
Entomological News, 1902, Vol. 13, pg. 81 by Robertson, female, male.
Canadian Entomologist, 1903, Vol. 35, pp. 287 to 288, keys female by Robertson.
North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin. 1962, No. 152. Bees of the Eastern United States by Mitchell. Male and female.
Journal Entomological Society Ontario, 2004, Vol. 135 Keys by Romankova.