Images

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.

Japanese Burrowing Cricket, Beltsville, MD, July 2012, A reporter from Wired Magazine commented that this specimen was remarkably similar to Rodin's "The Thinker"

More Velvet Ant pictures...who wouldn't want more shots of this Badass Cowkiller? This one from Arkansas sent live in the mail by our correspondent FT. Its good to have such friends. Photos by Wayne Boo.

More Velvet Ant pictures...who wouldn't want more shots of this Badass Cowkiller? This one from Arkansas sent live in the mail by our correspondent FT. Its good to have such friends. Photos by Wayne Boo.

COWKILLER! Sorry for the capitals, but its seems inevitable. As this glorious large specimen of Velvet Ant demands attention. I haven't tried picking up one of the females, but apparently it is one of the most severely painful stings available. Capture in Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Anticarsia gemmatalis - Velvetbean Caterpillar - Soybean eater....this species can't overwinter in most of North America but moves north to populate bean and legume fields in large enough numbers to become a major pest, but like our other pesty moths...pretty sharp looking when you get to know them personally. Specimen provided by Benzon Research.

Anticarsia gemmatalis - Velvetbean Caterpillar - Soybean eater....this species can't overwinter in most of North America but moves north to populate bean and legume fields in large enough numbers to become a major pest, but like our other pesty moths...pretty sharp looking when you get to know them personally. Specimen provided by Benzon Research.

Verrucosa arenata, Experimental Shot, Spider in a cuvette filled with hand sanitizer, note reflection within bubble. Identification made by Lady Arachnophile

Vespa crabro - The European Hornet...this one is actually in Europe, Denmark to be exact, where the nature artist, Anne Post's mother found this one dead in her garden. While somewhat beat up, it retains its essence as a well put together as a predator. Photograph by Ashleigh Jacobs or Hannah Sutton.

Here is a lovely carpenter bee from the southeastern part of the U.S., a bit smaller than X. viginica and as far as I know nests in twigs rather and does no damage to timbers (not that X. virginica does much in the way of real structural damage).

The other eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa micans). Here is the male...more blue than black. This species does not inhabit the porches, fences, decks, and cedar siding of our houses like its cousin X. virginica.

The other eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa micans). Here is the male...more blue than black. This species does not inhabit the porches, fences, decks, and cedar siding of our houses like its cousin X. virginica.

Ahhhhhh, the beauty of the wings of Carpenter Bees, this lovely specimen from Thailand, found lounging around the Packer Lab, Trivia = Carpenter Bees lay the world's largest insect eggs.

Vespid wasp from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is one that we see periodically taking nips of nectar from some of the trees we study. No time to look up the species group, but likely it a social species of some kind. Large too, about the size of a bumblebee in length..,Photo by Erick Hernandez.

Yellow-shafted Flicker, Breast Feather, in original colors with hints of brown/tan in some of the basal barbs, From a specimen picked up on the streets, by the group "Lights out DC" of Washington DC in 2012 after striking a building

Vespula squamosa - The Southern Yellow Jacket....the two yellow racing stripes on the top of the thorax (scutum) are diagnostic in the SE U.S. Collected by Tim McMahon from Talbot County, Maryland, Notice the notched compound eyes characteristic of most vespids.

Common Pricklyash. Zanthoxylum americanum. Very rare now in Maryland. Specimen and photograph by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Yellowstone National Park has wasps. Here is one I'm not sure what species it is, but it struck me as particularly eye-catching and so we took a picture of it. If anyone wants to put a determination on it that would be super wonderful.

Vitis...grapes, one of the wild species in Maryland. Species unknown at this time. Note that bees have little interest in grapes, most, if not all, grapes are self-fertilized so one rarely sees bee visitors here. Picture and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman in Howard County, Maryland.

Unknown Chalcidoidea Wasp, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Florida

I believe this to be a wasp in the Genus Ectemnius, but I don't know for sure as I just am not a wasp expert. This one was collected in the Neck District of Talbot County Maryland a few weeks ago. Photo by Wayne Boo.