Images

More worker honey bee shots from USDA honey bee specimens. These are both in the light body format and were collected in Beltsville, Maryland by Francisco Posada from the National Honey Bee Lab.

Wild Sarsaparilla, Aralia nudicaulis. Specimen and photo by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Paraguay! Cactus! This species of tiny bee (Arhysosoage species) and its kin feed their young Cactus pollen. One of many species which are pollen specialists in the world. Much to discover and explore in the part of the world, particularly the Chaco region. Specimen from the Packer lab at York University.

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

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. .

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. .

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. .

Andrena wilkella, female, Maryland Washington County

Andrena wilkellam, ,Washington County, Maryland

Andrena, which seem more prone to such things, perhaps because they are just a touch more delicate. So, it is nice to see a beautiful specimen like this Andrena wilmattae from Badlands National Park. A lovely presentation and our photographer, Anders Croft did a lovely job laying this specimen out. A joint venture I would say.

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.

Andrena aliciae, male

Andrena fragilis, June 2012, Cecil County, Maryland

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Male, this fun species nests in the walls of my adobe walled house where it aggregates in large numbers where the adobe is thickest. They create small dropping tunnels at that project out from wall ...function unknown.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Anthophora bomboides, a rather cosmopolitan Anthophora. Found throughout the north and down the mountain chains on both sides of the continent. I have my suspicions that western and eastern populations are possibly different species, but so far no one has talked to the bees' dna about that.

If you want a group of bees that generally present themselves well and look like bees not wasps choose the Digger Bee grouip. This male Anthophora californica was collected by Don Harvey in Hidalgo County, NM. Dryland area for sure and the distribution sits right in the dry areas of the West.

Anthophora curta....found in the drylands/deserts of western U.S. and Mexico. This is a rather small Anthophora and like many of the group, well groomed with small, short, mini=branched hairs. It seems to prefer composites and this particular one was found near the nowhere place of San Simone, Arizona at the eastern edge of its range. Collected by Don Harvey.

Andrena nuda, Somerset County, Maryland, April 2012, female