Images

A tiny little bee from Arizona. Conanthalictus is usually a specialist on small low growing plants in the waterleaf family. Collected by Tim McMahon or Don Harvey on one of their expeditions to the region. Note the lovely shades of the wing coloration that pop when you use a black background.

Ah......Mistflower. Conoclinium coelestinum. So purple blue that it almost looks fake (to me) regularly occuring in our area and a lovely addition to those how need a little more purple in their gardens. Specimen and pictures by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Dianthidium concinnum, Male, Pennington County, South Dakota

Dianthidium concinnum, Male, Pennington County, South Dakota

South Carolina, carolina sandhills national wildlife refuge

South Dakota, Badlands national Park

Isn't this a boss looking bee? This is Dianthidium singulare. One of the largest Dianthidiums around. Check out the winged plates near the collar of the bee and the shield like tegula that covers the front wing's insertion point into the body. Such a dramatic species.

Dianthidium simile, female, Michigan, July 2011, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Dieunomia heteropoda, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Dieunomia heteropoda, female, Anne Arundel County Maryland, The only known colony in the state

Coreopsis verticullata - Whorled Tickseed. Always popular with bees, the Coreopsis group, as a whole, is widely planted, tough, and long bloomer, but reasonably rare out there in the wild, with some of the planted species not local to the mid-Atlantic. Should they be planted then. Where are the limits?

Helicoverpa zea - Corn Earworm - According to Wikipedia its the second most economically damaging insect pest in North America, chewing on a wide variety of crop plants. This most certainly is true, but it also not a bad looking animal when viewed close up.

Helicoverpa zea - Corn Earworm - According to Wikipedia its the second most economically damaging insect pest in North America, chewing on a wide variety of crop plants. This most certainly is true, but it also not a bad looking animal when viewed close up.

This is the male of a species that parasitizes Megachile (leaf cutter nests) by laying their eggs in the nest of the host, after which the young Coelioxys sodalis emerges and kills the host larvae and consumes the pollen and nectar of the host's young. About 20% of all bees work on this model.

Coelioxys vigilans, Dominican Republic

Coelioxys coturnix, female, Maryland, July 2012, Cumberland

Coelioxys coturnix, female, Maryland, July 2012, Cumberland

Acadia National Park, Maine

Gynandromorph, bilaterally half male/ half female, very rare, the left hand side of this he-she is male (13 antennal segments / lacking pollen carrying hairs on the legs) and the right it female with 12 antennal segments and pollen carrying scopa on the hind legs. The differences are most obvious on the face shot and the underside shot.

Habropoda excellens, Three spotted Digger Bee, specimen collected by K. Moredock in Utah, USADigger Bees in the genus Habropoda occur around the world across middle northern latitudes and are usually plant specialists, collecting pollen from only a small number of all the plant species that might be available.

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