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Halictus confusus belongs to the bee family Halictidae, which is characterized in part by a well-developed stigma, a single subantennal suture, and the first flagellar segment being much shorter than the scape. The genus Halictus is differentiated from other genera by strong, opaque apical wing veins, and, typically, apical hair bands across the abdominal segments. Both sexes are approximately 7 mm and have green metallic tints to the body (Figures 1-3), which is typical for the subgenus Seladonia. Females have yellowed apical bands that are entire except for the last tergum which is sometimes interrupted medially (Ascher & Pickering, 2019). Females are similar in appearance to Halictus virgatellus and Halictus tripartitus, but have a shorter malar space and a longer subantennal suture, respectively. Males are differentiated from other males of the genus by the yellow colour on the ventral area of the fore trochanters (Roberts, 1973).

Halictus confusus is a primitively social bee that is also socially polymorphic, which means they can have nests with either solitary and/or eusocial colonies (Dolphin, 1966). They can also be found in extremely northern latitudes, like Alaska and Finland, where breeding seasons are potentially too short to functionally allow worker production, and therefore, sociality (Richards et al., 2010). The nests are comprised of a horizontal main burrow that is excavated to produce a dirt mound outside the nest entrance, known as a tumulus. The tumulus symmetry can indicate interspecific differences; H. confusus has a tumulus that is bilaterally symmetrical (Roberts, 1973). Foundress queens are active from late April to June, and the workers from the first brood emerge June to the end of July. Of the first brood, some females become reproductive females, known as gynes, that can potentially become future foundresses. Gynes emerge around mid-August and are active until mid-September. Later season broods have more gynes and more males. Unlike other Halictus species, queens usually die by midsummer and are replaced by a gynefrom the first brood (Dolphin, 1966). Males will emerge in late July to mid-August and mate for the duration of the summer, approximately two and a half months, before dying in the winter (Richards, 2010). The development of eggs to the adult form are partly dependent on temperature; earlier spring broods take 36 days to mature, and later summer broods take 28 days to mature (Dolphin, 1966). Brood cell size, egg development time, adult size, and caste size vary based on the season and soil temperature (Roberts, 1973).

Conservation: Secure in the United States according to the Center for Biological Diversity (Kopec, 2017) and least concern in Europe according to the IUCN, though it is rare in some regions (Fitzpatrick et al., 2006). NatureServe listed the species as globally secure as of 2017.

This species has a distribution across much of the Northern Hemisphere; in North America, its range extends from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and British Columbia, and south to Oregon, Utah, Georgia, and Texas (Roberts, 1973).