Calliopsis nebraskensis, Male, Back, New Haven County, CT_2013-10-25-19.13.35 ZS PMax

Description:

Now this is a rare bee, I have never seen or collected this species before seeing this lovely male in Kassie Urban-Mead's collection of bees from Connecticut, she collected it last year in a field on Verbena, there are only a scattering of records from NJ to Connecticut representing a disjunct population from the populations occurring in the western prairies, perhaps a residue of times past when prairie like conditions occurred here too