Images

Hoplitis fulgida (fulgid is Latin for bling). This is one of our early shots, taken of a bee from Grand Teton National Park. It is a terrible specimen in many ways, not symmetrically arrayed, a bit crumpled, probably why I had ignored it.

Hoplitis pilosifrons. Oft overlooked. This species is relatively common occurring in almost any substantive collection of bees from a region or location anywhere East of the Rockies. It has the bad habit of being bland in its characters and often leads to misidentifications.

Prince George's County, Maryland

A large Hoplitis, that occurs throughout most of North America East of the Rockies. Occurs in low numbers at most locations, in the Mid-Atlantic is is a June bee and associated with what would appear to be mostly Woody blooming plants. Something to consider in your planting pollinator plans... don't forget the blooming shrubs and small trees.

Here is an approximately 100 year old specimen from the Smithsonian that we recently obtained from old loans. A relatively obscure group from South America...this one come from South America. The only host record I can find is from Colletes. Picture by Samia Shell.

Another unknown jumping spider from Upper Marlboro, this one is only a few mm long, lots of wonderful things live complictated lives at the scale of a few mmCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Catterpillar of Endangered Karner Blue butterfly Lycaeides melissa samuelis, almost ready to pupate ...a.k.a. a fatty

The Endangered Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Dominican Republic. A lovely metallic green Lasioglossum in the Dialictus group

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Its just endless, the number of species of bees at Fossil Butte National Monument and the number of Lasioglossums Sweat Bees in the world. This one is L. prasinogaster. Pretty much looks like all the rest...mostly a Rocky Mountains thing...but a few found in the Pacific Northwest.

Of the many types of shiny little sweat bees, this is a large one, not that anyone would notice. Named after the Gotham of Gotham City this species occurs sparingly often in woodlands in the East

The underside of the head of Lasioglossum heterognathum. An uncommon species that has the feature that can be seen here, which is that the recessed area that holds the folded tongue (the hypostomal cavity) widens out towards the mandibles rather than stays as a parallel sided slot like other Lasioglossum species. Yawn, I know. Photograph by Amanda Robinson.

Catching up...Here is a not that great shot of Lasioglossum inconditum from Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming.

Fossil Butte National monument has this small black bee. 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.

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A bee from across the pond. This is Lithurgus chrysurus. This is a Euro bee, but in the 70s some one noticed that their house in Philipsburg, NJ was being drilled to bits by bees.

A bee from across the pond. This is Lithurgus chrysurus. This is a Euro bee, but in the 70s some one noticed that their house in Philipsburg, NJ was being drilled to bits by bees.

A bee from across the pond. This is Lithurgus chrysurus. This is a Euro bee, but in the 70s some one noticed that their house in Philipsburg, NJ was being drilled to bits by bees.

In North America this genus are primarily cactus pollen specialists. Since this one was captured in the sandhills of North Carolina by Heather Campbell it is undoubtedly covered in Prickly Pear cactus pollen. Note the projecting shelf just below the antennae on this female...collected by Heather

A new record for Hawaii for Maui, this introduced species (only some members of Hylaeus are native) was known from other islands but this appears to be the first record for Maui. Not surprising since it nests in wood and could easily be transported among islands or it is big enough that it could simply fly there.