Images

Tetragona species, Biting Stingless Bee, specimen collected by German Perilla in PeruStingless bees are just that, they cannot sting, their sting mechanism was reduced to non-functionality many tens of millions of years ago.

Tetragona species, Biting Stingless Bee, specimen collected by German Perilla in PeruStingless bees are just that, they cannot sting, their sting mechanism was reduced to non-functionality many tens of millions of years ago.

More Sphecodes shots....this one again from our expedition to the Adirondack Mountains. A big species (for a Sphecodes) about 2/3rds the size of a honey bee. Picture by Brooke Alexander.

A species of Sphecodes captured in agriculture areas of Puerto Rico by Sara Prado. This is either a new island record or a new species as there are no known records for Sphecodes for the island. Notice the lovely WIPs (Wing Interference Patterns)

An unknown species of Sphecodes collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County. Interesting to ask why Sphecodes often have bring red abdomens when bees theoretically can't see red. Photographed by Brooke Alexander

Sphecodes species, female

Two VERY SMALL spiders. Sadly I know little about spiders so can't tell you the species / group other a number that it is not. This Spider was only about 4mm. Captured outside of my lab in Beltsville, MD. Once I started looking I realized...there are billions of such spiders (tiny ones that is) in an average field.

Spider, Prince George's County, Experimental shot in a cuvette in hand sanitizer, this is the underside of the previous specimen...but Ben was able to eliminate more bubbles by carefully pouring the handsanitizer, will be working on lighting too

Beautiful, but scary. This is the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). An impressive 2 inch exotic Fulgorid type thing from China and Southeast asia, it is a bark sucker and can do tremendous damage to smooth barked woody plants.

Stelis australis....A nice colorful Stelis from the pinelands of Georgia. This group is likely to be a nest parasite (lays eggs in nests of other bees) of species in the uncommon Megachilidae bee genus Trachusa, so overall a very rare bee on an uncommon to rare host. Nice to see that such things still exist. This one was collected by Sabrie Breland.

Another beautiful Stinkbug from South America...this time, Argentina. Insect taken from the Natural History collection of the Smithsonian. 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.

Another set of pictures of a different specimen of Svastra duplocincta. Below is a repeat of the previous verbage for the species.While most people would not necessarily think about this very much (beer, for example, is thought about a lot more), many bees are specialists on Cacti.

Another set of pictures of a different specimen of Svastra duplocincta. Below is a repeat of the previous verbage for the species.While most people would not necessarily think about this very much (beer, for example, is thought about a lot more), many bees are specialists on Cacti.

Found on Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge in their lovely lovely native plant garden and fields. This large Eucerine bee is a good indicator of high quality habitat. May we see them in more than places with this bee.

Lovely elegance of Svastra obliqua, from Easter neck national wildlife refuge on the eastern shore of Maryland in Kent County. A species of late-summer composites, it is particularly fond of the sunflower and daisy groups.

Collected a few days ago, I think this is Sympetrum vicinum, the autumn meadowhawk, but just am not sure. Beltsville, Maryland.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Sawfly, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

An unknown Horsefly from Upper Marlboro, MD

Cuba, GTMO, Guatntanamo Bay Naval Base

Experiment - Thanks to the person for suggesting looking into one-way glass to eliminate double reflections in shots taken on glass. In this case the robberfly was photographed on a piece of glass that was coated with the mirror finish one-way film that you can buy in the hardware store for to add daytime privacy to your houses.

Dead Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, after striking a building in the fall of 2012 in Washington D.C. Collected by Lights out DC