Images

Unknown Deer Fly form near Bowie Maryland

Thanks to Bill Hubic and Cathy Stragar for this ID!. Thanks. sam 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.

The Madagascan sunset moth, yes indeed a Moth not a butterfly. Endemic to the Island of Madagascar. Large, migratory, and day flying it is another example of Nature's breaking of the rules. The colors are not created by pigments but by the structure of the scales themselves (look it up...very cool).

A twinkly white spring Andrena found on blooming wild plum in my front yard.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, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

A small male bee from my memory County Maryland with distinctive yellow markings to either side of its clypeus. 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.

A twinkly white spring Andrena found on blooming wild plum in my front yard.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, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

This tiny bee is a specialist on Willow Pollen, and was captured early this spring, unfortunately it is also completely coated in pollen and lint from the collecting process and did not go through our usual wash and blow dry procedure...thus the bad hair, but on the other hand it shows the characteristic light green tinge to the integument and generally captures the

Another of the large and sometimes confusing Melandrena species, collected by Nancy Adamson, Photograph by Colby Francoeur.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Another of the large and sometimes confusing Melandrena species, collected by Nancy Adamson, Photograph by Colby Francoeur.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Andrena pallidiscopa, female, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Andrena perplexa - This is a male from Talbot County, Maryland, long thin mandibles, wide cheeks and a big for an Andrena. Common in woodland areas, like so many of the Andrena. 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.

Male Andrena bees can be difficult to identify. Particularly complicated and confusing are the subgenus Melandrena. Here is a member of that subgenus....A. pruni. However!

A common spring western Andrena. More colorful than the average dark chocolate Andrena (fuscous is what the old timers would call it). Quite reddish in its integument in spots and a nice yellow clypeus as in this male. Collected in the fabulous Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Photo by Kelly Graninger.

From George Washington's Birthplace comes a fall Frost Aster specialist. One of about 6 or so species that specialize on the pollen of Asters and sometimes Goldenrods, these species are uncommonly collected but likely more because people are not looking that true uncommoness. Picture by Brooke Alexander.

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How could one not love the Genus of Ceratina? Elegant, with just the right combination of extra interesting features to keep the interest up. Note the raised clypeus in this one and the lovely fat hairs along the abdominal sections. From the collections of Sandra Rehan at the University of New Hampshire.

Ah, a mysterious Ceratina introduced into the Hawaiian island chain. This species is found throughout the islands now, but no one is quite sure what the species is. It is near the species C. dentipes but may or may not be it. So many mysteries in the world and too many introduced species. Photography by Sierra Williams and Photoshopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

Tiny Ceratina from Panama...in the first picture in this series you will see a rod going into its body to hold it in position for photographing in our mini bee studio. Actually this is not a rod but the very tip of the finest acupuncture pin. Yep, that is a small bee.

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.

Fuzzy, round-headed, and big are a pretty good short cut to the ID of Diadasia bees. Westerners, they, in a very casual pocket prairie sort of way make East of the Mississippi River. The bulk of the population is in dry natural areas from the middle prairies to the West. Here is a common one from our work in the Badlands of South Dakota.

A common genus out West, this genus does not really make it to the wet and lush East. This specimen we collected in the Badlands of South Dakota in the park of the same name. Clair Mudd took the shot.