Images

Andrena krigiana

Andrena macra. One of almost 100 species of Andrena that occur in the State of Maryland.

Various Andrena, adding to the catalog....most with bad hair. Sigh.

Andrena wellesleyana is one of the many Andrena species. It is also one of a number of species where the males have extensive yellow on their faces while the females are completely black. I the bulk of species both males and females have black faces.

This is a bee I don't see that often. It is both northern and Appalachian, but even in those areas it seems to be not terribly common. It looks fairly similar to its cousin Andrena nasonii, but Andrena wheeleri. Is a bee that forages on low herbaceous vegetation mostly. Just another connector in the largely undocumented web of bees and plants. .

Various Andrena, adding to the catalog....most with bad hair. Sigh.

Andrena wilkella, female, Washington County, Maryland

A small spring Andrena, the female uses pollen from Zizia plants to provision her nest. This specimen was captured by Nancy Adamson in the mountains of West Virginia.

Andrena ziziaformis meaning ... of the form of zizia...meaning kind of like Andrena zizia....which means the Andrena bee that collects the pollen of the plant Zizia...aka... Golden Alexanders. This little, tiny Andrena male has wonderful example of WIPS, wing interference patterns that show up in small Hymenoptera of many kinds. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

We are finally getting around to some of the common bees of the region. This one is Andrena miserabilis. Why miserabilis for a name? Not sure, it is not a particularly miserable bee, it comes out early in the spring and can be found in almost any environment from backyard to Woodlands.

Andrena crataegi, female

We go, once again, to one of my favorite parts of the world, the Badlands of South Dakota. Among several types of Anthophora exists a nicely woke-up white banded species called Anthophora walshii. This species has an interesting distribution, it is almost entirely found in the prairies bumping up to the western mountain ranges.

We go, once again, to one of my favorite parts of the world, the Badlands of South Dakota. Among several types of Anthophora exists a nicely woke-up white banded species called Anthophora walshii. This species has an interesting distribution, it is almost entirely found in the prairies bumping up to the western mountain ranges.

Anthophora abrupta, female, May, 2012, Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge

Well, not so great looking a bee specimen, so it goes sometimes when doing bee surveys where thousands of specimens are processed quickly under less than ideal conditions. However, there is a nice little story here. This bee was found by the National Park Service survey team George Washington's Home in Virginia.

The lovely groundnut, Apios americana. Has both edible beans and edible tubers and attempts have been made to create cultivars, but sadly this has not caught on despite some pretty awesome healthful characteristics. Look up the wikipedia writeup pilgrim. Photographed and collected by Helen Lowe Metzman in Howard County, Maryland.

Honey bee Head, Apis mellifera,Beltsville Maryland, oblique shot

The Drone or male of the honeybee. Note the eyes, they actually meet on top of the head. It lives only do mate with a virgin queen and the expanded compount eyes help. Note the weak reflection of the female's heavily modified hind tibia, still expanded, but not really functionally, probably a molecularly cheap byproduct of being haploid.

Apis mellifera, honey bee, pupae in the purple eye phase. Specimens provided by Krisztina Christmon from University of 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.

Devil's Walking Stick - Aralia spinosa. Woof. Plant this at the edge of the woods. The individual stems often don't last more than a few years, but what a spectacular plant. Giant giant balls of white flowers that attract huge numbers of wasps and butterflies, and some bees for that matter.

This little beauty is the underside of Argyrogrammana nurtia from Peru, one of the metalmarks. This one collected by Brian Harris at the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian. So fine.