Its range expanded as human agriculture spread throughout North America and squash plants became more abundant and widespread.

[2][3] It may also have spread naturally as the range of its favored wild host plant Cucurbita foetidissima expanded.

[2] Branched hairs or scopae on the hind legs help to carry the large, coarse pollen of cucurbits.

It may occasionally obtain nectar from other types of plants, but the female will only use Cucurbit pollen to provision her young.

[6] This ground-nesting bee often spends its entire life in an irrigated crop field, and there it can face a number of hazards, such as tillage and pesticides.