FLORILEGUS LONG-HORNED BEES
Genus Florilegus

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The small bee genus Florilegus contains fewer than a dozen species and is found only in the Western Hemisphere.  A single species of Florilegus inhabits the United States -- the worthy long-horned bee (Florilegus condignus). 

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Florilegus condignus is often described as relatively rare.  Nonetheless, this unusual species is locally abundant in Hidalgo County, Texas, from mid-spring through summer.

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Distinguishing traits of Florilegus condignus

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Worthy long-horned bees are about half an inch in length and somewhat resemble the more common Melissodes long-horned bees shown earlier in this Texas bee guide.  Both male and female Florilegus condignus are black bees with hairy thoraxes and banded abdomens; females have bushy hind-leg scopal hairs, and males have long antennae.

 

Male and female Florilegus condignus differ enough in appearance that the casual observer might assume that they belong to separate species. 

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The female is a robust bee with hind legs covered with bushy, predominantly pale scopal hairs.  Its abdomen is  banded with wide stripes of dense golden-yellow hairs.  Its dark thorax is covered with patches of dark and light hairs.  The female's face is dark and covered with pale hairs, its mandibles are dark, and its eyes are a bright blue-green.  These traits make the female Florilegus condignus fairly easy to recognize for the casual observer. 

 

Male Florilegus condignus are slenderer than females and have a distinctively "shaggy" appearance.  Their thoraxes are covered with rust-colored hairs, and their abdomens are banded with longish pale and yellowish hairs; the hair bands continue onto the underside of the bee.  The male bee's clypeus (the face-part above the mandibles) is yellow, and its eyes are light green. Its antennae are much longer than the female bee's.

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The tips of the male bee's antennae are dark --- a trait that helps distinguish the male Florilegus condignus from similar males of the locally common species Melissodes tepaneca.  The mandibles of the male Florilegus condignus are also entirely dark; this trait additionally aids in differentiating this species from various Melissodes species.

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Other minute traits, too small to detect with the naked eye, aid in identifying Florilegus condignus. Among others, the female   Florilegus condignus bee’s mandibles have a tooth near the inside of each tip, and the female bee's front femur is broadened.  Both males and females have five-jointed maxillary palpi (short mouth-part appendages behind a bee's mandibles ).