Images

Roooooarrrrrr!, Danger, creature from the black lagoon. Or...not. Here we have a close up look at the many interesting features that are left behind when a cicada emerges. This one was in my backyard and left his/her full body suit behind on the shed.

New Maryland state record. Common Clay Bank Tiger beetle (Cicindella limbalis), or, in this case, the Uncommon Clay Bank Tiger beetle. The specimen and 2 others were found while we were hunting these (with permission) in the yet unopened Wills Mountain State Park in Western Maryland.

Cow Path Tiger Beetle - Cicindella purpurea. Found on Will's Mountain outside of Cumberland Maryland. Found in low numbers in the Piedmont and Mountains of the state, a juicy little bug hunter. Photo by Erick Hernandez.

Yep, there are a lot of Ceratinas out there in the world. Here is the last in the series of Ceratinas from Sandra Rehan. As usual it is a small one from Panama. Tiny bees almost always have plenty of wing pop...no exception here.

A male Ceratina species from Bee Gardens in San Francisco that are surveyed for bees by Jaime Palawek. This crisp litte bee is less than the size of a grain of rice (white, long grain) and glitters worj smooth metallic blueish green colors. Glinty enough to be problematic when photographing.

A male Ceratina species from Bee Gardens in San Francisco that are surveyed for bees by Jaime Palawek. This crisp litte bee is less than the size of a grain of rice (white, long grain) and glitters with smooth metallic blueish green colors. Glinty enough to be problematic when photographing.

More Hylaeus from Panama, this little species was collected by Sandra Rehan, lovely wing pop or wing interference patterns. So glossy you can see the camera lens in the reflections.

Acadia National Park, Maine

Cuba, GTMO, Guantanamo Bay

Found by Brooke Alexander after it invaded our Lab in Beltsville, Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

Chelostoma philadelphi, Towson, Maryland, Baltimore County

A series of pictures of a male and female species that loves Bellflowers (Campanula). Meaning that the female of this species provisions its nest (note: males never help in all Hymenoptera) with the pollen of this plant.

A series of pictures of a male and female species that loves Bellflowers (Campanula). Meaning that the female of this species provisions its nest (note: males never help in all Hymenoptera) with the pollen of this plant.

Chino Farms Maryland....they are restoring their grasslands and open land on what I think is the largest farm in Maryland;and as a bonus they got a specimen of the very rare Colletes brevicornis. Hannah and Ashleigh, new interns from my lab took this picture...good job.

Colletes cariniger: one of the larger early spring species and also one of the more common species in its genus in Greece. The females seen commonly foraging for pollen in fields full of composites like chamomile, mayweed and ragwort. This one was collected by Jelle Devalez on the Aegean Islands. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Super cool, Super rare, Super fun. Who would say such a thing about a little brown bee? In this case it is Colletes ciliatus. Here is a bee that was featured in a paper we wrote several years ago as one of the "missing bees" not seen for many years.

Colletes compactus is a late fall Colletes, specializing on things like goldenrod. Colletes is an interesting group....different species coming out throughout the year and many of them highly specialized in what they gather pollen from. They perhaps are all specialists, but some are quite rare and so we know little (a common story).

An uncommon southern bee, many in this group of bees species feed their babies pollen only from certain plants. It is unclear if that is that case for this species...something for a good southerner to take up instead of playing Angry Birds all the time. Yet another magic bee collected by Sabrie Breland, southern bee magnet.

Colletes inaequalis, female, Prince George's County Maryland

Another mid-summer Colletes from the central prairies. Note the "cute" face with the inner edges of the eyes converging towards the mouth. For some reason this automatically makes a bee cute compared to the standard bee face format that most species display.

A cute male bee.... this is the visual of almost all bees in the genus Colletes. Look at how the inner edges of the eyes come closer towards the mouth. For whatever reason, this cutifies pretty much any bee. Enough of that mushy bee stuff. This is a western prairie bee, one that I found at the eastern edge of its range in Hooker, NE.