Food plants found nearby:

 shiny blueberry

(Vaccinium myrsinites), fetterbush

(Lyonia lucida)

Maleberry

(Lyonia ligustrina).

When and where seen:

March 31, 2021​

St. Augustine, Florida

St. John's County)

Sphecodes brachycephalus

(female and male)

Size: Female:  5.5 mm

male: 4.5 mm

A female Sphecodes bachycephalus

This female bee is 5.5. mm, with a red abdomen, a wide, short head and a short clypeus. Its mandibles have subtle sub-apical teeth. Its forewings have three submarginal cells. It was flying low to the ground amid a group of dozens of similar bees, both male and female, in a Florida coastal scrub habitat with sugar-sand soil.  Nests of Perdita (Alloperdita) (possibly floridiense) were located nearby.  Local flora in bloom included shiny blueberry (Vaccinium myrsinites), fetterbush (Lyonia lucida) and maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina).

The male bee shown below was apprehended  attempting to mate with the female.  The male has a partly-black abdomen and slender body.

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Other Sphecodes recorded in Florida differ from this bee: in addition to minute differences visible only with great magnification: S. antennariae has only 2 submarginal cells in its forewing; the abdomen of S. aroniae has an obvious depression between T1 & T2; S. atlantis, S. autumnalis and S. banksii are smaller (c. 4 mm) and the abdomen of S. atlantis is black on T4 and T5. S. clematidis, dichros, minor and prophorus are larger (7-9 mm), and S. prophorus has a prominent subapical tooth on the jaw. S. heraclei has a trademark bump on its head. On S. fattigi, T4 & T5 are black. S. mandibularis has yellow on the jaws and the undersides of its antennae are reddish.)

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