Images

An unknown species of Wasp from the Dominican Republic, collected on a trip I took a couple of years ago. Photo by Kamren Jefferson, Photoshopping by Dejen Mengis. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Unknown Species of Wasp, Bryce Canyon National Park

Unknown Species of Wasp, Bryce Canyon National Park

Fun wasp from Kruger National Park. Note the expanded antennal ends (actually the other antennae snapped off). Most likely this is one of the pollen gathering wasps in Masserinae group. So, you thought only bees in the stinging category of insects gathered pollen. Nope. However, in North America, these wasps mostly, if not entirely show up only in the West.

likely scelionine genus Sparasion, determined by Roger A. Burks and Doug Yanega, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Florida

Tiny feather from the head of a Whooping Crane. (Grus americana). Part of the captive flock at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

A tiny little bee species from Australia pinned with a tiny little pin called a minutum to a foam block...from the Packer Lab's collection.

Another bee from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is Xylocopa caffra...the male. Note how it is all yellow? Well the female is almost all black with some blocks of yellow on the abdomen. In a number of Carpenter bees on a number of continents this pattern repeats...while in other Carpenter bees the male and female are both dark.

Another bee from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is Xylocopa caffra...the male. Note how it is all yellow? Well the female is almost all black with some blocks of yellow on the abdomen. In a number of Carpenter bees on a number of continents this pattern repeats...while in other Carpenter bees the male and female are both dark.

Xylocopa cubaecola, female, on the base of Guantanamo Bay, GTMO, Cuba, endemic Cuban Carpenter Bee

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

A lovely yellow yellow yellow Carpenter Bee from India. The brown wings and yellow hairs show extremely good taste. From the Packer Lab Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200.

Arizona poppy pollen on Protoxaea gloriosa. Yep, the fluorescent orange Kallstroemia grandiflora, has fluorescent orange pollen and this bee loves it and becomes also fluorescent orange.

Great Smoky Mountains National ParkDoug Yanega has identified this as one of the wedge-shaped beetles in the Genus Ripiphorus. Several people have suggested that this be given the common name the Andy Rooney Beetle.

Dead Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, after striking a building in the fall of 2012 in Washington D.C. Collected by Lights out DC

Spodoptera eridania - Southern armyworm. A pest in southern parts of the U.S. mostly Florida. Defoliator of tomatoes and other crops. Not a candidate for the insect Miss Universe contest...or is is? I think close up there is a lot of beauty in this series of life history shots, but that is my personal opinion.

I am 80% sure this is a just hatched spring peeper tadpole. This is taken at 10x so it is very very tiny, the peepers are still calling and little else has started to breed or would be this small.

Black-throated Blue Warbler, Setophaga caerulescens, killed striking a building in Washington D.C. in 2012 during migration. Retrieved by lightsoutdc group.

The not so simple blueberry...this is Vaccinium corymbosum. First we know it is not so simple simply because there are so many bee species that only feed Vaccinium pollen to their babies. Why? There are Andrenas, Melittas, Habropodas, Osmias, and probably some others that escape me.

Andrena species, Black-tipped Andrena, specimen collected by Jason Gibbs in OmanEvolution has blessed the genus Andrena with over 1500 different species, making it the second richest of all bee genera (Hairy-tongue Bees, Lasioglossum, are first).

Andrena pallidiscopa, female, Badlands National Park, SD