Images

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

A bee of western North America. This one was captured in Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the larger "sensu strictu" group of Lasioglossums.

A bee of western North America. This one was captured in Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the larger "sensu strictu" group of Lasioglossums.

Here is a bee that clearly loves woodlands: Lasioglossum versans. In the obscure morphological vernacular of tiny sweat bees, I identify it by its tiny bulging purple "nose" (supraclypeus) and its complete lack of a hair fan on the base of T1.

Lasioglossum versatum. One of the most common little sweat bees in the East. Particularly common in the cooler mid-latitudes. These bees can dominate the captures in surveys of bee species of a region. Something of a mess taxonomically.

Sand. The Golden Sand Loving Bee. When I think of bees that are sand loving I think of Lasioglossum vierecki. For one, how nice to have a golden orange bee to look at. For second it is common in sandy areas...so if you are going to find a sand specialist in a sand mine, dune, beach, barren, sandhill in the Northeast there you will find this little orange bee.

Megachile poeyi, female, A common Caribbean leaf-cutting bee, this one from GTMO Naval Base, in Cuba

More Leaf-cutters from South Texas from my recent trip. Here is Megachile policaris. Big, found on Sunflowers alone roadsides, Note the big cutting tooth on its mandibles used to cut leaves to line its nests. A particularly trim species with nice sharp lines of bright white hairs along the rims of the abdomen.

What a lovely leaf-cutter from the coastal dunes of Florida. I particularly like the stubtle metallic glints on the top of the abdomen. What a fantastic finish this would make to tricky out your yet black car. This species was collected by Anthony Abbate as part of his ongoing survey of Dune bee species. How vulnerable are these bees to sea level rise?

What a lovely leaf-cutter from the coastal dunes of Florida. I particularly like the stubtle metallic glints on the top of the abdomen. What a fantastic finish this would make to tricky out your yet black car. This species was collected by Anthony Abbate as part of his ongoing survey of Dune bee species. How vulnerable are these bees to sea level rise?

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

A large hole nesting leaf cutter. This is a male Megachile pugnata (subspecies pomona) from Yosemite. Check out the greatly expanded pale segments of the front legs. These are used in mating and lain over the females eyes. People make up all sorts of stories with that information, but we really don't know that details about why that is a useful feature.

Some rather bad pictures of M. pugnata males. Not sure why I selected this specimen. Terrible hair. But, anyway check out the large expanded front tarsi. Will have to get additional specimens. Collected in WV by Dave Smith who had fabulous numbers of specimens in malaise samples. Still going through them after 10 years.

Megachile relativa, a relativa (get it?) common species in northern parts of North America. The orangish pollen carrying hairs under the abdomen are uncommon and therefore useful when sussing out this species.

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Megachile sculpturalis, female, Maryland

From Kenya comes one of the many flavors of Megachile...or leaf cutting bees, though this species likely does not cut leaves as you can see from the lack of cutting edges on its mandibles, more likely its paddle like mandibles are made for moving mud around.