Sphecodes davisii Robertson 1897 ( mandibularis group)

Holotype. ♂ USA, Michigan (?) (Michigan Agricultural College), 17 Apr. 1886 (INHS 179717) = Sphecodes persimilis Lovell & Cockerell 1907

County records: Alger, Antrim, Calhoun, Ingham, Kent, Leelanau, Livingston, Oakland, Ottawa, Tuscola, Van Buren.

Notes. This is a common and widespread species, originally described from a single male specimen. It is considered a senior synonym of S. persimilis, which was described from the female. Mitchell (1960) pointed out the possible synonymy and Abrams & Eickwort (1980) considered this probable. Mike Arduser and JSA have each applied this synonymy, but its establishment was relatively obscure since it was not done as part of a published revision but rather has appeared online and implicitly in faunal checklists (Arduser 2010; Ascher et al. 2014; Goldstein & Ascher 2016). Sphecodes davisii is a cleptoparasite of Agapostemon virescens (Fabricius) and A. sericeus (Förster) (Abrams & Eickwort 1980).