Images

Andrena aliciae, male

A specialist on early spring blooming brassicas. This one was collected just a few days ago along a very urbanized and disturbed section of Indian Creek in Beltsville, Maryland. Other than an overstory of trees all the herbaceous material growing seem to be invasive plants.

Collected by Ellison Orcutt, in Caroline County Virginia this small spring Andrena is a fan girl of mustards, particularly the spring mustards that are native and occur in wooded and semi-shaded areas in the spring, often very early in the spring.

A specialist on early spring blooming brassicas. This one was collected just a few days ago along a very urbanized and disturbed section of Indian Creek in Beltsville, Maryland. Other than an overstory of trees all the herbaceous material growing seem to be invasive plants.

One of the relatively few fall Andrena species, this one from West Virginia. As the name implies, it is a lover of asters, and probably only uses Aster pollen to feed its young. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

A couple of shots of Andrena asteris. Turns out the species is, indeed, an aster specialist. Not particularly common, unless you spend a lot of time looking at asters. If you spend a lot of time looking at willows then good luck finding this species Kiddo. Photo by Wayne Boo.

The least common of the Eastern Agapostemon bee species. It shows up regularly, but almost always in ones and twos rather in the numbers seen by at least A. virescens and in sandy areas A. splendens. Collected in P.G. County, Maryland and photographed by Wayne Boo.

The least common of the Eastern Agapostemon bee species. It shows up regularly, but almost always in ones and twos rather in the numbers seen by at least A. virescens and in sandy areas A. splendens. Collected in P.G. County, Maryland and photographed by Wayne Boo.

East of the Mississippi River there are 4 species of Agapostemons. The largest of the metallic green Sweat Bees. In some places they can be extremely abundant. This species, however, is never abundant, but exists throughout its range in a here and there sort of way. Regularly occurring, but never dominating.

Male Agapostemon's almost all have this same pattern, Metallicy green on the head and thorax and then striped yellow and black on the abdomen. Females uniformly don't have yellow anywhere. Why is good question as this male yellowness syndrome runs throughout the bee kingdom, cutting across families.

Dominican Republic, The only described all black Agapostemon in the Caribbean is from Cuba. (A. obscuratus). Collected in November of 2012. This is either A. obscuratus and a new record for Hispaniola or a new species.

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.

This Agapostemon species is one of the most common native bees in the East. In almost any field there can be hundreds if not thousands of these bees visiting a wide variety of blooming plants.

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

Ramps. Allium tricoccum. Things in the onion group can be good pollen sources for bees. Ramps are no exception. Specimen and photo by Helen Lowe Metzman.

A pollinator of wild relatives of tomatoes, this species will alight upon and then vibrate tomato flowers using its wing muscles. These plants have cleverly hidden their pollen in tubular anthers that are primarily released when buzzed by bees at a certain frequency.

India = An unknown species of Amegila collected by Suzanne Batra.

Here lie the birds killed while striking a set of buildings surveyed during the migration season in 2013 in Washington D.C. The birds were picked up by the group Lights Out Washington D.C.

The red maple, Acer rubrum, often one of the most dominant trees in deciduous woods in the East. It blooms very early in the spring and provides pollen and nectar to the set of bees, and flower flies, that come out early.

Another tree flower loving beetle from South Africa this one a buprestid, Acmaeodera virgo. Collected widely in bowl traps and in trees in Kruger National Park. Photo by Kelly Graninger.