Images

I have nicknamed this bee (Ptilothrix bombiformis) the refuge bee because it is found so often on National Wildlife Refuges. Why? Well this species is a hibiscus specialist and refuges are full of impoundments and those impoundments often have fresh water hibiscus plants in them.

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On a recent trip to York University to take pictures of bees from around the world. I was returning to his lab after a coffee field trip and was struck by the beautiful lines of some fresh red oak acorns.

Acer rubrum, young forming samara, Beltsville, Maryland April 2013

Rediviva species, Black Daddy Longlegs Oil Bee, collected in South Africa We showed the male already...here is the female.What fantastically cool bees! These bees have extremely long front legs that they use to collect oil from plants, using the oil instead of nectar as food for the larvae. At the end of their legs are sponge-like patches of hairs.

Mile-a-minute weevil, Rhinoncomimus latipes, this weevil has been brought into North America to contol Polygonum perfoliatum, the mile-a-minute weed. Bob Trumble from Maryland's Department of Agriculture dropped off a few of these minute (about 1.5mm) babies and we photographed them using out 10x lens set up.

Here is one of the native azaleas...with the lovely name Pinxter (Rhododendron periclymenoides).

Woof. Not great pictures of a bit of beat up bee, but it is a rare bee and I think the only one I have ever gotten. In this case these came from Shelby Wilson who did surveys of bees on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. A very cool place. Very canadian in bee aspect.

Number 2 of 3 new state records of Carabid (ground beetle) records for Maryland. This Stenocrepis mexicana beetle was found by Brent Steury while doing a survey of the Cove Point liquid natural gas terminal on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County. Isn't it nice that studies these things?

A very very variable in color (polymorphic) species in the stinkbug family from South America. I have a couple of other examples, but there seems to be no limit to the color variations this species has. How lovely and mysterious. Not sure what the research is on this thing, but it must be an interesting story.

One of the southern Svastra species. Big Bee, uncommon and probably restricted to areas of relatively intact native flora, which are getting to be harder and harder to find.

Large bees, rivaling bumblebees, the presence of these bees are indicators of high quality natural habitats, this group does not do well in human environments and does not invade urban areas.

Svastra, a good name I think for this moody genus, I am not sure of the derivation, but these are large, mostly uncommon bees that inhabit high quality diverse open bioscapes. They do not occur in cities. This species is especially dark and is at the southern edge of its range at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida.

While most people would not necessarily think about this very much (beer, for example, is thought about a lot more), many bees are specialists on Cacti. Here is Svastra duplocincta collected in Pima County, Arizona...very likely on a cactus by either Tim McMahon or Don Harvey (my notes are not with me).

Beautiful, but scary. This is the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). An impressive 2 inch exotic Fulgorid type thing from China and Southeast asia, it is a bark sucker and can do tremendous damage to smooth barked woody plants.

Claytonia virginica - Spring Beauty, Patuxent River Bottomlands, Upper Marlboro, Maryland. 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.

Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina, nest parasite of other bee species

Stelis australis....A nice colorful Stelis from the pinelands of Georgia. This group is likely to be a nest parasite (lays eggs in nests of other bees) of species in the uncommon Megachilidae bee genus Trachusa, so overall a very rare bee on an uncommon to rare host. Nice to see that such things still exist. This one was collected by Sabrie Breland.

Stelis australis....A nice colorful Stelis from the pinelands of Georgia. This group is likely to be a nest parasite (lays eggs in nests of other bees) of species in the uncommon Megachilidae bee genus Trachusa, so overall a very rare bee on an uncommon to rare host. Nice to see that such things still exist. This one was collected by Sabrie Breland.

Stelis labiata "“ A female of a very rare species found, in this case in the sandhills of North Carolina, collected by Heather Campbell

Stelis labiata "“ A male of a very rare species found, in this case in the sandhills of North Carolina, collected by Heather Campbell