Images

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Andrena dunningi. A large dark Andrena. This lovely female, in fresh plumage, is relatively easy to identify simply by the orange brown color of its body hairs along with the nearly black hairs located on its hind legs which it uses to carry pollen to its nest.

Know Your Wild Bees Campaign - Andrena female ID...this group can dominate on blooming trees and shrubs in the spring, but smaller numbers occur in the Fall on our composites

Middlesex County, Massachusetts

An odd, dark Andrena bee of deep sandy areas that comes out in the middle of summer

Andrena fulvipennis "“ A very rare species this male was captured in an old sand pit in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. This species is only found in deep, permanently sandy locations. Picture taken by Brooke Alexander.

An often uncommon spring Andrena, I associate with the Appalachians, this is a male with a sweet yellow clypeus. Collected by MaLisa Spring near Marietta, Ohio. Photograph by Brooke Alexander. 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

Two different specimens of Andrena geranii. A northernish species that appears to be a specialist on ....geraniums. Notable is the slight blue metallic sheen to the body. Aaman Dengis and Brooke Alexander took the pictures.

Two different specimens of Andrena geranii. A northernish species that appears to be a specialist on ....geraniums. Notable is the slight blue metallic sheen to the body. Aaman Dengis and Brooke Alexander took the pictures.

Another odd ball Andrena from the Channel Islands. This one is A. gnaphalli, collected as part of a larger study of bees in climatically vulnerable National Parks. An apparent Asteraceaea specialist with some glints of green and red instead of the normal black integument.

Connecticut, Tracy Zarillo Collector

A couple more shots of Andrena asteris, one male, and one female. Note the super fluffy hairs on the hind tibia of the female.

Andrena barbara, female

Andrena barbara, female

Andrena barbara, male

Andrena bisalicis, female, Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, SC, Chesterfield County

For some reason I really like the lighting on the face of this specimen... eerie, the bee contemplating the decline of its own kind, that sort of thing. But I depart...Here is Andrena bradleyi, the Long-faced Mining Bee, a vaccinium (blueberry) specialist. If you hang out around blueberries then you might find this bee...the flowering plants that is.

Antennaria are underappreciated. ... They are subtly and softly sculptural in their hairiness and seem to thrive in the poor exposed soils of roadcuts and overgrazed areas that haven't been completely taken over by weeds. This Plaintain-leaved Everlasting. Collected by and picture taken by Helen Lowe Metzman in Howard County, Maryland.

Another lovely Buprestid from Kruger National Park in South Africa. Also another beetle found feeding on blooming trees in the park by project leaders Jonathan Mawdsley and James Harrison.

Beetles from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is the start of a series of pictures of insects that come to the flowers in Kruger. This is a project led by James Harrison from S.A. and Jonathan Mawdsley from the U.S. I was lucky enough to come along and do some bee collecting. Interesting system.

Found in a Bombus atratus nest in Bogata, Colunbia by Francisco Posada