Abstract
Bees of the subfamily Halictinae, commonly called sweat bees, possess two pairs of spurs on the hind tibiae, the inner pair being branched in the female. Spurs of samples of representative species of all genera of Halictinae occurring in Eastern North America were examined microscopically to ascertain morphological groupings of spur form. Five morphologically distinct spur forms indicative of generic groupings are recognized: Sphecodes, Agapostemon, Augochlora (containing Augochlora and Augochlorella ), Augochloropsis , and Halictus (containing Halictus s.l. and Lasioglossum s.l.). The spurs of representatives of the various subgenera in the Halictus grouping are analyzed in detail and the implications of this study in correctly determining natural subgenera of the grouping are discussed. Spur form does not appear useful in separating species within a genus except in the genus Halictus s.l.
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