Hylaeus in Hawaii
Hylaeus in Hawaii |
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Hylaeus flavifronsIslands: Niihau, KauaiLocations: Niihau - (Lehua Islet) Kauai - (Polihale) Habitats: Coast Plants: Portulaca, Scaevola, Sida Xerces: Hylaeus flavifrons is a coastal bee endemic to the islands of Kauai, Niihau, and Lehua in Hawaii. It is distinguished by the single large facial mark, filling the entire area below the antennae, and the extremely wide scape of the male. It is restricted to a few, small, and widely scattered sites and populations are vulnerable to extirpation. Species Profile 
Insects of Hawaii: Small bees with short malar spaces and clear wings. Male face with one large yellow mark extended at sides to level ofantennal sockets and supraclypeal area; legs unmarked; scape unmarked or with narrow, pale lateral margin; unusual scape moderately to strongly dilated and strongly arched. Differs from its sister species, H. anthracinus, by the dilated S8; the facial marking also usually larger. Female black and unmarked; mandible with three teeth, a feature shared with H. anthracinus; distinguished from sympatric species by the combination of very short scutum hair and long, dark brown hair on T6. Occurs in company with H. chlorostictus, H. connectens, H. hostilis, and H. solaris at Polihale beach on Kauai. Males are easily separated by the strongly dilated scape and the facial marks, in which the paraocular marks are broad and usually reach the eye but do not extend above the antennal sockets; females have very short scutum hair like H. solaris, but the hairs of T6 are dark rather than pale. A male collected from Lehua, an islet near Niihau, has reduced facial marks similar to H. anthracinus and is almost certainly responsible for the report of that species from Niihau by Beardsley and Tuthill (1959). Insects of Hawaii Volume 17
UH/DOD: Hylaeus near military lands
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