It just occurred to me to spread the word on this before it's too late.
During the first two weeks of July, I collected two male Dolichostelis here
in Lawrence - seeing as the genus had never been collected in Kansas, I pulled
out the keys and found that they didn't quite match any of the six described
species. They are essentially intermediate between the southern species,
costalis, and the eastern species, louisae; louisae occurs in Missouri, so
it's the best bet, and one of the two diagnostic characters for louisae is
large, well-spaced genal punctation. However, the other character for louisae
is enlarged ocelli, and these specimens had normal ocelli like costalis, and
are colored more like costalis (reduced yellow markings).
   Basically, I'm hoping to encourage folks to keep their eyes peeled for
either live or museum specimens that might fall into this category. My two
specimens are presently in the hands of Terry Griswold, for confirmation or
denial of their species-hood, and *any* other material from the general
vicinity of the midwest would be *greatly* appreciated. They are presumably
parasites of Megachile (Chelostomoides) species, but have only been collected
over a portion of the range of the potential hosts. Two Chelostomoides are
still flying here in Lawrence, campanulae and exilis, but their season is fast
coming to an end. Happy Hunting, all!
-Doug Yanega,
Snow Museum
University of Kansas