The wing veins for both are of a beige colour or pale yellow to the naked eye and L. mataroa has red tarsal claws.

[6] It is also important to recognize that the soils which naturally have this consistency in New Zealand have a saline content (are slightly salty) and this may therefore have a significant impact of the L. mataroa's geographical range.

[9] Depending on climatic conditions particularly in relation to soil temperature early summer November – December is generally the period when new adults emerge from the nest.

Females also bear the responsibility for the collection of pollen and nectar which is primarily transported on the hairs of metathoracic legs and propodeum.

[5] Furthermore, a female born in late summer or autumn that has been fertilized will spend the winter underground in the nest possibly living for up to 12 months or more.

However, as B. Donovan (personal communication March 26, 2019) explained it may be possible that those bees over wintering in the nest may die and be replaced by the fertilized daughters resulting in the life span being like that of the male.

The L. mataroa nest construction is a blind tunnel excavated in fine-grained moist soil that contains cells in which the larvae are raised.

The Halictinae have a long resting period throughout winter, so it is necessary to build up resources and reserves to last throughout therefore they must forage on a wide variety of flowering plant species to gain maximum provisions.

[11] The daisy family, Asteraceae, are the largest of flowering plants (Stevens, 2001 as cited in Panero & Crozier, 2004),[12] and L. mataroa prefers the Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) which is highly competitive possibly making it readily available to forage on and “commonly found in pastures throughout New Zealand”[13] but it is also resistant to drought in the summer.

[14] This could possibly explain why the L. mataroa favours this plant as nesting sites are in saline soils and therefore the dandelion species would be growing close by and easily accessible.