Halictus swezeyi Cockerell

CockerellL, T. D. A., 1942, Bees of Guam, Insects of Guam I, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, pp. 188-190 : 189-190

7. Halictus swezeyi Cockerell ,

B. P. Bishop Mus., 0cc. Papers 15 (5): 66 (in table only), 1939.

Female, type. Similar to H. safjordi in many respects, but entirely distinct by the following characters: brassy green, with variable coppery or purple tints; area of metathorax short, boat shaped in outline (subtriangular in safjordi), with the hind margin straight or nearly so, and the whole surface covered with fine plicae which reach the margin and are connected by little lateral branches, forming a fine reticulation. The male of swezeyi is about 6 mm. long, considerably smaller and less robust than the male of saffordi, but very variable in coloration, and in the sculpture of the metathoracic area, which, however, is never of the sajfordi pattern. The tibiae are usually bright red, but in one specimen, which has a brilliant purple abdomen and black tegulae, the middle and hind tibiae are black. The apical plate is hardly half the width of that in male saffordi, and the wings are much clearer. Length, 7 to nearly 8 mm.

Ritidian Pt., April 16, Bryan ; Mt. Sasalaguan, April 25, Bryan ; Yona, April 29, Bryan ; Dededo , on flowers of unknown shrub, May 11, Swezey ; Santa Rosa Peak, May 19, Swezey ; Merizo, June 11, Swezey, Usinger ; near Atao Beach , June 25 ,, Usinger ; Machanao, on tobacco flowers, June 30, Swezey ; Dandan, on Glochidion flowers, July 17, Swezey ; Piti, Aug. 24 , Sept. 27, Swezey .

P. H. Timberlake, looking over Swezey's collection, had already recognized that this was a distinct species. Judging from the number of specimens, this would seem to be the commoner species.