Images

Within regions of conflict the opinionless great wheel of Nature silently continues. From the West Bank comes a snail shell nesting Osmia loaded with pollen, sometimes included in its own Palaearctic genus Hoplosmia and sometimes...not.

Terrible specimen, but the only specimen on hand for Osmia subarctica. A male with distinctive upturned gonostyli on its genitalia....as we all kinow..!

Now here is a beauty. Nomada graenicheri, rare as all get out and its host is unknown (but could be one of the summer Andrena...). This one was collected in the mountains of Virginia by Megan Ayers as part of her team's efforts to survey the bees of that state. For some reason the facial shot presents notes of anime...at least to me. Photo by Erick Hernandez.

From Southern Minnesota comes a very rare parasitic bee called Nomada graenicheri collected by Scott Leddy in his study of Prairie remnants. Few records exist for this species and nothing is known about its host. This specimen was from some of the bluff prairies in the driftless region. Nice to see and a new state record too. Photography by Ashleigh Jacobs.

From Southern Minnesota comes a very rare parasitic bee called Nomada graenicheri collected by Scott Leddy in his study of Prairie remnants. Few records exist for this species and nothing is known about its host. This specimen was from some of the bluff prairies in the driftless region. Nice to see and a new state record too. Photography by Ashleigh Jacobs.

The lovely Nomada imbricata, a bee that looks like a wasp, which, it turns out are all bees really are anyway...modified wasps. In this case this bee has no need to look like a bee since it does not carry pollen nor build its own nest, instead it invades the nests of the large Andrenid bees and lays its eggs in their nest and Ms.

Dominican Republic

Intersex. Gynandromorph. Part Male: Park Female. Here is a lovely example. In this case the intersex section is restricted to the head. This is a Nomada of the pygmaea group. pygmaea group indicates that this is probably a group of species, but....I can't tell them apart. Long story.

Rare Parasitic Bee (Nomada obliterata). Some bees are just rare. Or, at least rarely found. This specimen here is the first known specimen from Washington D.C. where it was discovered at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, along the long neglected Anacostia River. Neglected but not absent of biodiversity. What is the "obliterata" part of its name about?

Rare Parasitic Bee (Nomada obliterata). Some bees are just rare. Or, at least rarely found. This specimen here is the first known specimen from Washington D.C. where it was discovered at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, along the long neglected Anacostia River. Neglected but not absent of biodiversity. What is the "obliterata" part of its name about?

Rare Parasitic Bee (Nomada obliterata). Some bees are just rare. Or, at least rarely found. This specimen here is the first known specimen from Washington D.C. where it was discovered at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, along the long neglected Anacostia River. Neglected but not absent of biodiversity. What is the "obliterata" part of its name about?

A late season Nomada, this is Nomada placida. It (like all Nomada) is a nest parasite of something. But what? Given its dates of occurrence it may be some of the late season Andrena. Nomada in the fall are always rare and of interest ....fyi. Collected on Warrior Mountain in Maryland.

Yet more uncommon Nomada from Southern Minnesota. This one, Nomada rubicunda, is one that I associate with sandy areas and is, I believe, and Agapostemon nest parasite...likely A. splendens, only a few records in Maryland, but can be relatively common in sandhill country.

Yet more uncommon Nomada from Southern Minnesota. This one, Nomada rubicunda, is one that I associate with sandy areas and is, I believe, and Agapostemon nest parasite...likely A. splendens, only a few records in Maryland, but can be relatively common in sandhill country.

What a lovely bee. This is Nomada seneciophila. A bee that had not been seen for over 20 years until I netted a set on the Pomonkey DOD base in Charles County Maryland. The host for this rare bee is unknown, but now I think I know what it is because at that same site was Andrena gardineri another rare bee and a specialist on ragwort ...

Here is the male of the very rare, Nomada seneciophila, found for the first time in Maryland, Charles County. As is often the case the males look quite different from the females. This is one of a handful of species that have modified antennae segments, with small spines, sculpting and elongations compared to other groups of Nomada.

Paracolletes species, On and Off Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaThis species is unusually sexually dimorphic in color. The males are quite bright, as can be seen here, the females are what might be called the "null hypothesis" for bee coloration "“ brownish grey on the head and thorax with a black abdomen with white transverse hair bands.

This is picture 8 from a 12 picture invited series by Matt Buffington (matt.buffington@usda.gov) at the USDA Parastitic Hymentoptera group using specimens from the U.S. Natural History Museum Smithsonian. Matt uses a system very similar to ours to photograph and stack this super tiny wasp.

Why do you insist, Pilgrim, on planting your garden with geraniums, tea roses, and begonias? You could be planting your garden to Woodlands sunflowers and then you would have the opportunity to help out the uncommon and undoubtedly declining Paranthidium jugatorium.

Feeds Baby Oil. Yes, a subcult of the many bees of the world are those who, in addition to feeding their young pollen, feed them oil from plants that produce oil for that very purpose. Here is such a bee, a Paratetrapedia collected by Tim McMahon in Costa Rica. It has special hairs to transport the oil to the nest.

Pasites maculatus, White-spotted Red Cuckoo Bee, specimen collected by Ron McGinley in PakistanTaxonomists have given plenty of Red Cuckoo Bees names, 23 globally to be exact, but only the White-spotted Red Cuckoo Bee has received much attention beyond the usual cataloging.