Images

Megachile relativa, a relativa (get it?) common species in northern parts of North America. The orangish pollen carrying hairs under the abdomen are uncommon and therefore useful when sussing out this species.

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Megachile sculpturalis, female, Maryland

From Kenya comes one of the many flavors of Megachile...or leaf cutting bees, though this species likely does not cut leaves as you can see from the lack of cutting edges on its mandibles, more likely its paddle like mandibles are made for moving mud around.

An interesting bee from Florida. Collected by Anthony Abbate. Not much is know about this species, it shows up in collections not very commonly and has western counterparts which may, or may not, be the same species. So much to do!

As you can see from the tattered edges of the wings...this is an old bee, meaning it has been out and about for about 5 weeks. This is also a male, one could count the antennal segments (13 in males, 12 in females) but you can also tell by the greatly expanded white front legs, these are used to cover the females eyes during mating....

Megachile mendica is a very common bee, but in this case it is founded on a very rare plant, Ruth's Golden Aster. Collected and photographed by Philip Moore as part of a survey of that plant species and its pollinators from Polk County Tennessee.

The most common eastern native Megachile, Megachile mendica. In this case a male, oft confused with M. brevis. Photography by Amanda Robinson.

The most common eastern native Megachile, Megachile mendica. In this case a male, oft confused with M. brevis. Photography by Amanda Robinson.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blount County

Leaf cutters never seem to end. Here is Megachile petulans, southernish in distribution and with a lovely display of the complicated tongue architecture bees have. Tongue? This structure is so far removed from our tongues it is ridiculous. Really, think of bees and insects as coming from a different planet.

Megachile poeyi, female, A common Caribbean leaf-cutting bee, this one from GTMO Naval Base, in Cuba

More Leaf-cutters from South Texas from my recent trip. Here is Megachile policaris. Big, found on Sunflowers alone roadsides, Note the big cutting tooth on its mandibles used to cut leaves to line its nests. A particularly trim species with nice sharp lines of bright white hairs along the rims of the abdomen.

What a lovely leaf-cutter from the coastal dunes of Florida. I particularly like the stubtle metallic glints on the top of the abdomen. What a fantastic finish this would make to tricky out your yet black car. This species was collected by Anthony Abbate as part of his ongoing survey of Dune bee species. How vulnerable are these bees to sea level rise?

What a lovely leaf-cutter from the coastal dunes of Florida. I particularly like the stubtle metallic glints on the top of the abdomen. What a fantastic finish this would make to tricky out your yet black car. This species was collected by Anthony Abbate as part of his ongoing survey of Dune bee species. How vulnerable are these bees to sea level rise?

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

A large hole nesting leaf cutter. This is a male Megachile pugnata (subspecies pomona) from Yosemite. Check out the greatly expanded pale segments of the front legs. These are used in mating and lain over the females eyes. People make up all sorts of stories with that information, but we really don't know that details about why that is a useful feature.