Hylaeus confluens, legit species?

[Sam Droege]

All

In my early years of collecting in the Mid-Atlantic region I found specimens that clearly matched H. confluens.  Then, over time, after collecting more specimens around marshes and wetlands I realized that these specimens were showing up in the same netting events as H. ornatus.  

One of the characters of H. ornatus (like H. nelumbonis) is that some of their first abdominal segments are a deep reddish color. After a while it was clear that the black abdomened individuals were identical except for their abdomen color and co-occurred on the same flowers.

In contrast to the above situation, H. nelumbonis and H. ornatus are traditionally told apart by another color character, the presence or absence of yellow on the pronotal collar (H. nelumbonis having none usually).  In this case there are other, additional characters that separate the two species even though Mike Arduser has found some H. nelumbonis with yellow markings on the pronotal collar.  

Similar patterns of color variation occur in other Hylaeus where there is a dominant pattern of markings that is useful in separating the bulk of specimens and rogue individuals with either more, or more often less extensive markings or even the absence thereof.

So, in the case of H. confluens, I am unsure whether I have seen proper specimens of this species or that this species is simply the dark-abdomened version of H. ornatus.

Does anyone have any insight on H. confluens in the South?

thanks

sam

Nature feeds her children chiefly with color.

      ~Henry David Thoreau