Augochlorella persimilis (Viereck)

Diagnosis.

Augochlorella persimilis is very similar to Augochlorella aurata . Females can be distinguished by the lack of rugae at the rear of the propodeal triangle, though this character can often be subtle (Fig. 13F-H). In addition, Augochlorella persimilis tend to be smaller than Augochlorella aurata, and they have a more extensive apical black mark on the clypeus, with the black part taking up approximately one-third of the length of the clypeus (Fig. 13B), compared to approximately one-fourth the length of the clypeus in Augochlorella aurata (Fig. 13A). Note that there are often females of Augochlorella persimilis and Augochlorella aurata that cannot be reliably separated.

Male Augochlorella persimilis can be separated from Augochlorella aurata by the length of the hairs on the inner side of the hind basitarsus: Augochlorella persimilis have the hairs very short for the basal third, then the hairs flare out to about twice the width of the basitarsus (Fig. 13J). In contrast, the hairs on Augochlorella aurata are short for the basal third, and only get slightly longer, about equal in length to the width of the basitarsus (Fig. 13I). Like females, the males of Augochlorella persimilis also have a lack of rugae at the rear of the propodeal triangle but it is less distinct (see Fig. 13F-H).

Comments.

This species has a more southern distribution than Augochlorella aurata, though the species commonly overlap and co-occur. The northern extent of the range of Augochlorella persimilis reaches the southern part of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Wolf and Ascher 2008; Gibbs et al. 2017).