Florilegus (Florilegus) condignus (Cresson, 1878)

Stephenson, Phillip L, Griswold, Terry L, Arduser, Michael S, Dowling, Ashley P G & Krementz, David G, 2018, Checklist of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from managed emergent wetlands in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of Arkansas, Biodiversity Data Journal 6, pp. 24071-24071 : 24071

Florilegus (Florilegus) condignus (Cresson, 1878)

Notes

New species record for Arkansas. A very widespread species, occurring throughout much of the eastern two-thirds of the US into Mexico, Central America and well into South America. No other native North American bee species has a similar or as extensive range. Populations in eastern North America are strongly associated with pickerelweed ( Pontedaria cordata L.), alluvial plains and natural and constructed wetlands, including upland wetlands. The mouthparts of this species are festooned with hooked hairs (as are the mouthparts of the pickerelweed oligolege Melissodes apicata Robertson). Florilegus condignus females collect pollen from pickerelweed with their mouthparts as they hover, quickly “stabbing” the mouthparts in and out of the corolla. However, this species is not a strict oligolege of pickerelweed, as it also occurs in wetlands etc. where pickerelweed is absent. LaBerge and Ribble (1966) report western populations of this species to be potentially important pollinators of alfalfa. Primarily a wetland-dependent species in the eastern US portion of its range (Table 1: All Sites).