Images

Here is a lovely carpenter bee from the southeastern part of the U.S., a bit smaller than X. viginica and as far as I know nests in twigs rather and does no damage to timbers (not that X. virginica does much in the way of real structural damage).

Xylocopa mordax, female, Dominican Republic, March 2012

Ahhhhhh, the beauty of the wings of Carpenter Bees, this lovely specimen from Thailand, found lounging around the Packer Lab, Trivia = Carpenter Bees lay the world's largest insect eggs.

A black and white version of the previous picture...can't decide if I should have left that straying barb on the left in there or not...it adds a lot of tension to the picture...perhaps too much.

Membracid from Dominican Republic floating in hand sanitizer in a quartz cuvette

Vespula squamosa - The Southern Yellow Jacket....the two yellow racing stripes on the top of the thorax (scutum) are diagnostic in the SE U.S. Collected by Tim McMahon from Talbot County, Maryland

Yucca filamentosa. A wild eastern Yucca. I always thought the odd Yucca in some beatup corner of the East was an escapee. But this is not the case as you can see here. Pollinated by moths, not bees. Specimen and picture by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Zanysson - A crabronid wasp. Most of the stinging wasps are fairly badass in aspect, to use a technical term. This one certainly is worthy of a tattoo on someone's chest and was collected by Merle Shepherd from Spring Island along the coast of South Carolina. It is unclear which species this is, but perhaps someone will reveal that to us.

Zanysson - A crabronid wasp. Most of the stinging wasps are fairly badass in aspect, to use a technical term. This one certainly is worthy of a tattoo on someone's chest and was collected by Merle Shepherd from Spring Island along the coast of South Carolina. It is unclear which species this is, but perhaps someone will reveal that to us.

White-throated Sparrow, Died in downtown Washington D.C. in the fall or spring of 2012 from striking a building at night. Retrieved by the Lights out DC program

White-throated Sparrow, Died in downtown Washington D.C. in the fall or spring of 2012 from striking a building at night. Retrieved by the Lights out DC program

Rarity here. This is species was described in the 1950s, named after the town it was collected near and only a handful of specimens have ever been collected that I am aware of. In fact it is so rare that it was on our list of "missing" species, published in 2011.

Hermaphrodite! (aka a gynandromorph) This Agapostemon texanus or angelicus (species can't be determined here) is part male and part female. This happens in I think all animals and I have seen about 5 of these after looking at about 400,000 bee specimens. This one was brought in by Tim McMahon after he collected it in Arizona.

More Green Bees. This is a common one, one of the commonest summer bees in the East. Agapostemon virescens. The females have a black abdomen unlike the other female Agapostemons in the East which are bright green all round. This one was caught in Caroline County in Maryland. Picture by Amanda Robinson.

Agapostemon splendens, female, Florida, October 2011, Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve

Agapostemon splendens, female, Florida, October 2011, Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve

Agastache species make some of the best bee attracting plants. Here is Agastache foeniculum. Photo and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman. 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.

White Snakeroot, Ageratina altissima. Collected and Photographed by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Aglaoapis tridentata, Spined Goth, specimen collected by Heinrich Friese in AustriaThere are but three species of Goths, oddly scattered across the northern Old World with the Spined Goth occurring across the temperate regions, one in India, and one way down in South Africa.

Aglaoapis tridentata, Spined Goth, specimen collected by Heinrich Friese in AustriaThere are but three species of Goths, oddly scattered across the northern Old World with the Spined Goth occurring across the temperate regions, one in India, and one way down in South Africa.

Just one section of Swamp Agrimony (Agrimonia parviflora). Picture and specimen from Howard County, Maryland by Helen Lowe Metzman.