A small, mostly black bee about 1/4 inch (5 mm) long. The female, shown in photos A and B, has a black and yellow face, black thorax, black abdomen, black and yellow legs and brownish wings. The male looks like the female except that it has an all yellow face. The abdomen is wasp-like, with minimal hair. The name comes from the small diamond shaped markings on its face.
It lives in meadows and abandoned crop fields. It generally has brood cells in the pith of stems, such as Sumac. At times it appears to brood in soil, using old tunnels. They line the cells with a silk-like secretion and add pollen to the cell for the larvae.
This bee is widespread throughout North America. Bees in the genus Hylaeus are found worldwide with some 700 identifies species. There are approximately 25 species in North America. They lack pollen baskets or hairs for collecting pollen externally but instead carry both pollen and nectar internally. They are thought to take pollen and nectar from a wide variety of flowers.
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