Images

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

Shed skin from captive reared Endangered Karner Blue butterfly Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Lasioglossum pectinatum, Maryland , Washington County. One very rare bee, this is the first one I have seen a specimen of from the state

Lasioglossum pectinatum, Maryland , Washington County. One very rare bee, this is the first one I have seen a specimen of from the state

Lasioglossum pectinatum, Maryland , Washington County. One very rare bee, this is the first one I have seen a specimen of from the state

GTMO Cuba, June 2011, Need identification

Richmond County, North Carolina

Richmond County, North Carolina

Bluets, or Quaker Ladies. Their delicate loveliness does not quite shouw up in these pictures...forming little clumps in poor soils and a part of spring I wait for each year. Specimen and photos from Helen Low Metzman.

Hylaeus basalis, female, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

In rough translation this would be the "Florida Masked Bee." Tiny, grain of rice things, and usually mistaken for wasps as they carry their pollen internally rather than in their body hairs like other bees. Thus they have reverted to the wasp shape from whence bees came.

For some reason this species, Hylaeus leptocephalus, one of the masked bees, is one of the first non-native bees ever detected in the Americas. Oddly, it was first detected in the Dakotas around 1900. There must be a good story there, but we don't know what it is.... Reasonably common now, but mostly in disturbed, urban environments.

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring--When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;Thrush's eggs look like little low heavens, and thrushThrough the echoing timber does so rinse and wringThe ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing;The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brushThe descending blue; that blue is all in a rushWith richness; the ra

The male of the female Lithurgopsis gibbosus already presented on this site. An uncommon species compared to its sister genus Megachile, it is often overlooked because of the superficial similarities.

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.

Lithurgus tibialis: a fascinating species in that it is much smaller and looks quiet different from other Lithurgus species occurring in Europe and has the peculiar preference for flowers of Chrozophora, a quite unusual pollen source.., but from studies in Greece it is clear that the females almost solely visit this plant and collect its pollen.

Ah, the lovely wild hummingbird attracting Cardinal Flower. Nice to have bright red emerging from the wetlands every once in a while. Photograph and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Indian tobacco - Check out the pooched out lower parts of the flower (not sure of the technical name). An annual that crops up all over the place in Maryland. Specimen and picture by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Indian tobacco - Check out the pooched out lower parts of the flower (not sure of the technical name). An annual that crops up all over the place in Maryland. Specimen and picture by Helen Lowe Metzman.

A cactus specialist, if you look closely you can see the spiny little cactus pollen balls all over this male, if you look even more closely at the shot of the face you will see a a lawn croquet hoop formation formed by the mandibles in the center of the face...used to grasp the female at her waist during mating.