Images

The poster child for rare bees of concern in North America. This is Epeoloides pilosula, collected on David Wagner's study of the conservation landscape of transmission lines. This is a nest parasite of Macropis oil bees. In this study they found both M. nuda and M. ciliata uncommon bees in themselves.

The poster child for rare bees of concern in North America. This is Epeoloides pilosula, collected on David Wagner's study of the conservation landscape of transmission lines. This is a nest parasite of Macropis oil bees. In this study they found both M. nuda and M. ciliata uncommon bees in themselves.

Some ratty specimens of Eucera dubitata from West Virginia. Photos by Kamren Jefferson.

A rather dirty western Eucera fulvitarsis from Fossil Butte National Monument. Nice combination of blacks and ochers. Hopefully we will get a better specimens at some point. Photo by Maggie Yuan.

One of the more uncommon to rare eastern bees in North America. Eucera fulvohirta is found in the arc of the continental coastal plain only from Louisiana to North Carolina. What plants does it feed on, what is its place in the natural history of the region. No one knows.

Very orange and fluffy he is. And very uncommonly found. This was a nice bee to see from Sabrie Breland's captures in old long-leaf pine forests in Southern Georgia. Fulvohirta indeed. Pictures taken by Sara Guerrieri.

Eucera rosae a rather uncommon spring bee in same group as the more abundant Melissodes species. This one came from the Saint Mary's City area of Southern Maryland collected by Elaine Szymkowiak.

Not all orchid bees are entirely metallic green. Here is one from a rather uncommon genus, collected, in interior Guyana rainforest that illustrates the beauty of combining black and metallics...

Glinting wonders from Biscayne National Park at the tip of Florida. Sadly, it its an introduced species, even if it is found in the Caribbean. Still, remarkable in its metallic blues and greens. Photograph by Sierra Williams shopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

Biscayne National Park, Euglossa dilemma, male 2011

Euryglossidia species, Pinnochio Euryglossidia, collected in Australia by Laurence PackerThis undescribed species was collected in Western Australia after particularly good winter rains. It has an unusually pointed "nose". No reason for this unusual modification is known.

Euryglossina leyburnensis, Cylidrical Perplexing Bee, collected in AustraliaDoes this look like a bee? Not really, and indeed the Cylindrical Perplexing Bee has fooled many a melittologist (the self-proclaimed name for those of us who instead of becoming plumbers or presidents took up the study of bees). Why does it look so different?

Dominican Republic

Exomalopsis similis, female, CUBA, GTMO, 2011, June

Exoneura species, Two-tone Reed Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaLong: Reed Bees are found only on the continent of Australia and it is likely that most of the 41 species nest in the pithy centers of plant stems, similar to the Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina).

Exoneura species, Two-tone Reed Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaLong: Reed Bees are found only on the continent of Australia and it is likely that most of the 41 species nest in the pithy centers of plant stems, similar to the Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina).

Counting-out RhymeSilver bark of beech, and sallowBark of yellow birch and yellowTwig of willow.Stripe of green in moosewood maple,Color seen in leaf of apple,Bark of popple.Wood of popple pale as moonbeam,Wood of oak for yoke and barn-beam,Wood of hornbeam.Silver bark of beech, and hollowStem of elder, tall and yellowTwig of willow.- Edna St.Vincent Millay

Spodoptera frugiperda - Fall Armyworm, another defoliating moth species, slightly different from the previous series on the Southern Armyworm.

Dead Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, that sadly ran into the windows of a building in Washington D.C. while migrating.

Tenebrionidae, found at night chewing on a small patch of shelf fungi on a stump in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Dasymutilla gloriosa. Thistledown Velvet Ant. Elizabeth Garcia who took this picture claimed this one creeped her out. ... and she sees a lot of wasps and bees. Not an ant, but a wasp. This it the wingeless female collected by Tim McMahon in Cochise County in Arizona. Desert.