Images

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

Connecticut, Tracy Zarillo Collector

Sunflowers. Specifically, the genus Helianthus to separate out the other "sunflower" plants. Only found in North America. So tall and glorious that we have adopted many for our gardens. Thrusting skyward they telegraph their supply of pollen and nectar to the bees that only feed their young pollen of Sunflower. Here is one of them. The appropriately named A.

A larger Andrena...about the size of a honey bee. A spring forager, not well studied, but shows up here and there throughout much of the deciduous forest landscape of the East south of New England. Photo by Kamren Jefferson.

Yet another! Large Melandrena species from the Eastern United States. The males are particularly difficult to tell apart. This one come from the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina.

Pennington County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Yellow Bee: Yellow Pollen : Andrena hirticincta : Maine : Agriculture field edges. This is a fall bee, a bee of goldenrod and aster. How nice. Collected By Brianne Du Clos and photographed by Dejen Mengis.

From malaise traps set in the woodland bottomlands of the Patuxent River comes the uncommonly detected Andrena illicis. Here is a male with its notable orangish legs.

Andrena illinoiensis, South Dakota, Badlands National Park,

Andrena illinoensis, female

Sexy Andrena. Yes, the normally black Andrena does have some sexy species. Here is one of my favorites. Andrena prunorum jacketed in amber with ribbing of white fur...or something like that. A common western species that leaked just enough out of the West to show up in Badlands National Park where we were studying the bee fauna of the Park.

Andrena specularia - This is a prairie bee. I know that because it is from North Dakota and there are no records that I know of east of the Mississippi River. In fact, there are no legit records outside of North Dakota. Other than the mysterious Turtle Mountains, ND is all about prairie. I would like to propose that this become the state's bee.

Andrena spiraeana is one of the set of bees in the Andrena subgenus Trachandrena. One of the characteristics of this relatively distinctive group are the deeply impressed fovea between the compound eyes and the antennae. A spring bee, I associate this species with wooded wetlands...but I may be simply mistaken on that account.

Andrena uvulariae, Female, Recently, this species was known only from the type, but work by Mike Arduser, Joan Milam, and John Ascher have resulted locating additional specimens along the the male. It appears to be a pollen specialist on Bellflowers. This specimen is approximately 100 years old from the Smithsonian collection.

This is a first in what will be a series of pictures from Claire Kremen's Lab at U.C. Berkeley. This is Andrena vanduzeei, an endemic California bee, restricted to the High Sierras. Note the lovely blue metallic notes and surrounding dark hairs. Specimens collected in Yosemite National Park. Picture by Sydney Price.

A somewhat odd position with its pollen covered (likely geranium pollen) leg out and its head cocked towards us. Photoshopping by Thistle Droege and photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Andrena dunningi. A large dark Andrena. This lovely female, in fresh plumage, is relatively easy to identify simply by the orange brown color of its body hairs along with the nearly black hairs located on its hind legs which it uses to carry pollen to its nest.

A very early spring bee, covered in pollen, collected by a homeowner in Bowie, Maryland