Hymenoptera of North Carolina
Scientific Name:
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View PDFAndrenidae Members: 60 NC Records

Andrena aliciae Robertson, 1891 - No Common Name

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Taxonomy
Family: Andrenidae Subfamily: AndreninaeChecklist Number: 14.00                                                                                  
Comments: This species is one of 470 members of this genus that occur in North American north of Mexico (Discover Life, accessed 2019-12-10), 97 of which have been recorded in North Carolina.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: BugGuide, Discover Life, GBIF, iNaturalist
                                                                                 
Adult Markings: The clypeus is yellow in both sexes but the paraocular areas are black. Vestiture of the head and thorax is whitish. Tergites of the abdomen have apical fasciae of whitish hairs, which are narrowed or interrupted medially (LeBerge, 1967)
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: This species is found primarily in the tall-grass prairie region, from west of the Great Lakes to New England, with a few disjunts records as far south as Georgia. In North Carolina, this species was collected histoically at Marion at the foot of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, at Swannanoa on the crest of the Escarpment, in the Valley of the Black Mountains, and at Bryson City along the valley of the Tuckasegee River on the east side of the Smokies.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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Flight Comments: Described as a summer species by Fowler and Droege (accessed 2019-12-10). All but one of our records are from August and September. The one record from the central Piedmont (Wake County) has an anomalous date of March 21 and this specimen (one of Mitchell's) needs to be verified
Habitats and Life History
Habitats:
Larval Host Plants: LaBerge (1967) described this species as "an oligolege of the Compositae and seems to prefer the genus Helianthus. Fowler and Droege (accessed 2019-12-12) state the same. However, the only pollen source reported in North Carolina is Rudbeckia laciniata.
Observation Methods:
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: GNR SH
State Protection:
Comments: Described as a "common eastern species" by LaBerge (1967) but considered rare in this region by Fowler and Droege (accessed 2019-12-10). The last record in North Carolina was apparently made in 1945 by T.B. Mitchell in Marion. The current status of this species is unknown, but given the elevational range and the number of occurrences that have been documented in North Carolina, it may simply have been undercollected over the past 75 years.