Images

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

A mysterious species of Megachile that seems to have recently become common in the East, this specimen or one like it represents the first Maryland record and was collected from the back parking lot of Redskin's Stadium, not exactly the wilderness (or perhaps just a different wilderness..).

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Megachile timberlakei, Hawaii, Oahu, March 2012

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What an interesting species. Instead of flying during the day, this species flies just before dawn and just after dusk, times where we have difficulty seeing. This species, however, forages on crepuscular and night fowering flowers, more often associated with bats and moths. Note the large eyes and ocelli.

Melanempis scoliiformis, Bottle Green Madagascan Cuckoo, specimen collected in MadagascarAlmost all of the bees native to the large and geographically isolated island of Madagascar are endemic (as are most of the flora and the rest of the fauna for that matter), occurring only on that Island and not on the mainland of Africa.

Here we have the light colored form of Melecta albifrons, and because of that given the subspecies name albovaria. A very variable species found widespread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, as its host is the very common species Anthophora plumipes. Collected on Grecian Isle Lesvos by Jelle Devalez as part of a study of the bees fauna of the region.

Melissodes apicata...this is a wetland species that spends its time in and around Pickerelweed and only Pickerelweed. How interesting. Photograph by Dejen Mengis. 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.

If all the Pickerelweed in the world would disappear...this species would too. This is Melissodes apicata; a male, as you can see form its longgggg antennae and its young can only be fed pickerelweed pollen.

If all the Pickerelweed in the world would disappear...this species would too. This is Melissodes apicata; a male, as you can see form its longgggg antennae and its young can only be fed pickerelweed pollen.

The most common Melissodes in the Mid-Atlantic area is M. bimaculata. It occurs commonly in gardens and makes its way around many floral plants, unlike many of its cousins which are picky and may only take pollen from one species of plant. This one from Caroline County, MD and Photographed by Amanda Robinson.

Leaf cutting bees like this Megachile petulans are found around this world. Common and often nesting in holes in wood, some made by our wood boring beetle friends and some made by people (consciously or unconsciously). I am presuming that M.

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.

A southern bee that just barely gets up into the upper coastal plain of North America. This specimen comes from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge where it found its way tot their lovely pollinator garden. In that same garden its nest parasite, Coelioxys germana provided Maryland's first specimen record. Photography by Wayne Boo.

Megachile poeyi, the most common Megachile, leaf cutting bee on GTMO 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?

Fort Mantanzas National Monument has Megachile pseudobrevis living in it. How nice that National Monuments now become sanctuaries for bees and Nature while we continue to tame to death the rest of the world. Photography by Miss Sierra Williams.

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.

Another shot, and a rather charming one I think, of a male Megachile rotundata. Sierra Williams took the picture and Elizabeth Garcia did the Shopping. 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.