Lasioglossum (Hemihalictus) lustrans (Cockerell 1897)

Gibbs, Jason, Ascher, John S., Rightmyer, Molly G. & Isaacs, Rufus, 2017, The bees of Michigan (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), with notes on distribution, taxonomy, pollination, and natural history, Zootaxa 4352 (1), pp. 1-160 : 89

Lasioglossum (Hemihalictus) lustrans (Cockerell 1897)

County records: Allegan, Clare, Clinton, Delta, Dickinson, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Kent, Lake, Leelanau, Muskegon, Newaygo, Osceola, Ottawa, St. Joseph, Van Buren.

Notes. This solitary species is best known from the southeastern and south-central United States, but it extends north locally to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It is relatively common along the east coast of Lake Michigan where it visits a variety of yellow composite flowers. Southern populations of L. lustrans have been reported to be very narrow oligoleges of Pyrrhopappus (Asteraceae) , only occasionally visiting other members of the tribe Cichoriae ( Daly 1961; Michener 1947b). Northern populations, however, occur outside the range of Pyrrhopappus ( Estes & Thorp 1975) and regularly visit a broader array of species in the tribe. Arduser (2010) and Grundel et al. (2011) both report L. lustrans visiting Krigia species in the north. Lasioglossum lustrans has also been observed visiting other genera of Cichoriae in Michigan, including Crepis and Taraxacum (J.G. pers. obs.).

Lasioglossum lustrans is recognizable by the absence of vein 1rs-m through most of its range, but a small proportion of northern specimens from Wisconsin and Michigan have this vein present ( Gibbs 2010a; Gibbs et al. 2013).