Images

Echinacea. This medicinal plant is widely planted and tinkered with by gardeners and breeders. But, it really is a prairie species and when in its habitat, like the Badlands, big bees like to forage on it. Hey, look, here's one in this picture! Andrena helianthiformis. I suppose this means "looks like A. helianthus, but...is not" in Latin.

This large Andrena of the prairies is a specialist bee on Sunflowers as one can see from the name. Captured in Badlands National Park and Photograph Taken by Aaman MengisCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

This large Andrena of the prairies is a specialist bee on Sunflowers as one can see from the name. Captured in Badlands National Park and Photograph Taken by Aaman MengisCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Maryland, Anne Arundel County

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.

Andrena hybrida: A small bee from the Grecian Isles, ...interesting in that unlike the hundreds of others of its Andrena kinfolk, rather than appearing all black has the size, shape, and coloration of a several species of cleptoparasitic bees who have red abdomens. Why is that?

Andrena hybrida: A small bee from the Grecian Isles, ...interesting in that unlike the hundreds of others of its Andrena kinfolk, rather than appearing all black has the size, shape, and coloration of a several species of cleptoparasitic bees who have red abdomens. Why is that?

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 illini, A rather large, spring bee, I associate this one with Woodlands and the edge of Woodlands, where found them feeding on blackberries in particular. This one was collected in Somerset County by Timothy McMahon. Photograph by Hannah Sutton.

Andrena wellesleyana is one of the many Andrena species. It is also one of a number of species where the males have extensive yellow on their faces while the females are completely black. I the bulk of species both males and females have black faces.

This is a bee I don't see that often. It is both northern and Appalachian, but even in those areas it seems to be not terribly common. It looks fairly similar to its cousin Andrena nasonii, but Andrena wheeleri. Is a bee that forages on low herbaceous vegetation mostly. Just another connector in the largely undocumented web of bees and plants. .

Various Andrena, adding to the catalog....most with bad hair. Sigh.

Andrena wilkella, female, Washington County, Maryland

A small spring Andrena, the female uses pollen from Zizia plants to provision her nest. This specimen was captured by Nancy Adamson in the mountains of West Virginia.

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.

We are finally getting around to some of the common bees of the region. This one is Andrena miserabilis. Why miserabilis for a name? Not sure, it is not a particularly miserable bee, it comes out early in the spring and can be found in almost any environment from backyard to Woodlands.

Andrena crataegi, female

Andrena erythronii, female

A very early spring bee, covered in pollen, collected by a homeowner in Bowie, Maryland, often found on maples

The head of Andrena fenningeri. A wee spring black mining bee that favors the pollen of Maple. Just one of the many little black things that are out in the spring on flowers that people pay no attention to. Found in the heart of suburbia: Bowie, Maryland. Photo by Wayne Boo.

There are a group of bees in the genus Andrena that form a fairly distinct subgenus called Tracandrena. They are notorious for being difficult to separate out and, in particular, the males all look pretty much the same. I have created a little Excel spreadsheet that help separate out the females, if anyone is interested.