Images

Amegilla species, Unknown Banded Bee, collected in South Africa by Laurence PackerBanded Bees are a diverse group, occurring in lands all across the Old World and Australia. Asian and Australian groups tend to be more of the "Blue-banded" variety (see accountxxx) while in the Eastern part of their range they more often than not lack any blue reflections.

Pachyanthidium species, Sawtooth Sputnik Bee, collected in KenyaAnother striking Sputnik Bee from Africa. This group of bees, and the Anthidiini tribe it nestles in taxonomically, are almost all characteristically striped and spotted with bright yellow, white, and red colors on a wide body, usually also with serious amounts of pitting cratering their exoskeleton.

Pachyanthidium species, Sawtooth Sputnik Bee, collected in KenyaAnother striking Sputnik Bee from Africa. This group of bees, and the Anthidiini tribe it nestles in taxonomically, are almost all characteristically striped and spotted with bright yellow, white, and red colors on a wide body, usually also with serious amounts of pitting cratering their exoskeleton.

Dominican Republic, possible leaf beetle, floating in hand sanitizer in a cuvette

Unknown species of beetle (ID Help would be great, maybe the head of a checkered beetle????). Collected in my backyard in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Photograph by Sierra WilliamsCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Over the next few days I hope to put up some new Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) shots from bees collected at the many hives here at the Beltsville Agriculture Research Center maintained by bee whisperer Francisco Posada. In part we are focusing on the plumage differences, showing the variation between dark and light bodied individuals.

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.

Head of a honey bee....

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.

Queen Bee photo spread. Collected by Tim McMahon from a colony in Talbot County, while slightly gummy as Honeybees are want to be, this series shows the longer abdomen, the odd curly dark hairs on top of the head and the broad hind tibia, but lacking the hairs and pollen basket that the workers have.

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

The wheel bug...of death. A very large bug whose impales other insects, injects liquids that dissolve the insides f the insect, and then sucks it back up.

Oak Timberworm, Arrhenodes minutus, and an interesting mite on its mid femur, found at my moth light...likely attracted to the area due to the fresh red oak I am adding to the wood pile.

Oak Timberworm, Arrhenodes minutus, and an interesting mite on its mid femur, found at my moth light...likely attracted to the area due to the fresh red oak I am adding to the wood pile.

Orange in Saturation. No need for Photoshop filters here. This is the orange orange of butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, a magnet for bees and butterflies, but provider only of nectar. Its visitors transfer butterfly weed pollen in sacs that get clipped onto the legs of big visitors when their foot slips into the florets.

Another small Ashmeadiella species (A. aridula) again from Claire Kremen's studies. This one's distributions fills the western states but does not leak into Canada and Mexico. I am sure there are stories to tell here, but I basically know that they are small and nest in holes in wood...often using rosin. Photos by Erick Hernandez.

Here is a bee from the Central Valley of California,part of Claire Kremen's 10 years study of hedgerows as bee repositories in industrial ag lands. Pollen-wise it leans towards composites, and, this is also a bee that can be found all the way to the East Coast... Georgia and North Carolina even. Small so likely often overlooked.

Here is the Crystal Skipper, (Atrytonopsis quinteri) sent to me by Heather Cayton, from the Outer Banks of North Carolina where its entire range is but 2 barrier islands (one highly developed) where its caterpillars mildly munch on seaside little bluestem.

A widespread western hemisphere group, this is one of many bright green Augochlora species (others can range in the black to purple/blue spectrums), this one is special because it occurs only on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, where it was collected by Sara Prado in agricultural fields...a local pollinator.

One of THE most common bees in Eastern North America and one of the most woodland oriented. This species nests in rotting wood and I have found them overwintering underneath the loose bark of logs on the ground.

Augochlora regina, Dominican Republic, formerly A. elegans.Also have been dubbed the Blue Man bee