Images

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 odd story of invasion. This is a Sphecodes, we have posted a series of them recently on Flickr. They are nest parasites. They gather no pollen themselves. There are many species...the odd thing is that I found this on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. The only native bees on the island (discounting some maybe native bees) are masked bee from the genus Hylaeus.

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

Unknown species of small spider , possibly a juvenile? Beltsville, Maryland, March 2014Canon 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, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

An orphan picture. Other than it is a spider wasp and came from the county I work in I don't know much more about this azure beauty. It was taken when we were first setting up the camera rig in 2012....so likely just fell between the cracks.

Unknown spider found March 21, 2013 in a steam tunnel underneath the Beltsville Agriculture Research Center, Ashley Bradford suggested that this might be...Pholcus phalangioides?

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.

The mysterious Stelis nitida. Dark, broody, enters the nests of other bees, lays its eggs, and then the hosts young mysteriously die with all their food eaten. This one from Isle Royale National Park. An island more like Canada than the U.S. in its bee fauna. Photo by Sara Guerierri.

The mysterious Stelis nitida. Dark, broody, enters the nests of other bees, lays its eggs, and then the hosts young mysteriously die with all their food eaten. This one from Isle Royale National Park. An island more like Canada than the U.S. in its bee fauna. Photo by Sara Guerierri.

Stelis subemarginata - An uncommon nest parasite of the genus Osmia. This one from Maine, where lots of Osmia hang out. Photo by Brooke Alexander.

More slime mold action from the Adirondacks...in this case a miniforest of Stemonitis sporangia corn dogs emerging from a rotting log after some good all day rain action. What if we just did a 3D print of these bad boys and made them 100 feet tall and put them in the middle of the Hudson?

Australia warning. This extremely fast flying sand nesting bee is only found in Australia, in fact, the genus is only found in Australia, and...the family Stenotritidae (27 species) is only found in Australia. The smallest of the 7 families of bees known to mankind. Collected by the peripatetic uber bee taxonomist Laurence Packer.

Melapona species (likely Melipona eburnean, but this needs to be verified by sam) , La Legítima, specimen collected by German Perilla in PeruHoney is not the singular creation of Honey Bees, but other, even older lines of bees have been creating honey to get through hard times for tens of millions of years.

Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina, nest parasite of other bee species

Not awesome pictures, but sometimes we need to take pictures of very rare specimens not because they are beautiful in aspect but because they are all we have. Stelis foederalis is a rare nest parasite of presumably Osmia species. These were found on Isle Royale wayyyyy up in Lake Superior closer to Canada than Michigan.

Not awesome pictures, but sometimes we need to take pictures of very rare specimens not because they are beautiful in aspect but because they are all we have. Stelis foederalis is a rare nest parasite of presumably Osmia species. These were found on Isle Royale wayyyyy up in Lake Superior closer to Canada than Michigan.

Stelis labiata "“ A male of a very rare species found, in this case in the sandhills of North Carolina, collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Amber Joyce.

From Gateway National Recreation Area, is a little tiny parasitic be that Pearson sizes things like Osmia pumila. About 20 percent of all bees are nest parasites, Must be a fairly successful strategy. Photography by Kamren Jefferson and photo shopping by Dejen Mengus.

Stelis louisae, Prince George's county Maryland

Some of the Stelis groups of bees are very colorful. This is true of S. louisae....a nest parasite of Megachile campanulae and clan. This male was collected on Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in the mostly marsh county of Dorchester. Photograph by Claire Mudd.