Images

A sand loving, ground nesting Megachile from Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook in New Jersey. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.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, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Megachile apicalis - Invasive species: Specialist on knapweeds: Not common unless you haunt industrial and other wastelands where it can be common. Always carry a net in these areas so that you clearly as seen as a harmless nature nut. Collected in Cumberland, Maryland. Picture by Heagan Ahmed and photoshopped by Elizabeth Garcia.

From Alleghany County in western Maryland in the town of Cumberland down along the Railroad tracks, which is a go to collecting spot for me, since there are almost always tall weeds with bees on them. One wishes that other people did the same things with native meadow plants along roads and yards instead of just mowing them to pieces all the time.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee - A leaf cutting bee, common throughout much of North America

A pair of head shots...including the rarely seen underside of a bee head. The species: Megachile campanulae. From: Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Status common and regular if you swing a net in the summer. Megachile always have lovely omatidia (those lovely hex things on the compound eyes).

Megachile integra is one of a small clade of Megachile and Trachusa that need small viney things in the pea family (fuzzy beans and milk peas) to feed their babies.

Megachile integra is one of a small clade of Megachile and Trachusa that need small viney things in the pea family (fuzzy beans and milk peas) to feed their babies.

Collected by Heather Campbell, from the Sandhills of North Carolina. Photograph by Wayne Boo.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Megachile lanata, GTMO Cuba, Female

A common and large leafcutting bee from Maine, collected by Brianne Du Clos. This is a male and note the large expanded tarsal segments on the front legs. These are used to hide the females eyes during mating. Dejen Mengis is the photographer.

A common and large leafcutting bee from Maine, collected by Brianne Du Clos. This is a male and note the large expanded tarsal segments on the front legs. These are used to hide the females eyes during mating. Dejen Mengis is the photographer and Elizabeth Garcia did the shopping.

A sharp looking Megachile from Yosemite National Park. Megachile melanophaea is a bee that runs all across the arctic, the northern parts of the East and down the mountains in the West. Unlike many northern species is does not seem to be interested in the Appalachians.

Ah, the seedbox, Ludwigia alterniflolia, check out the pictures of its seed elsewhere on our site. Specimen and photo by Helen Lowe Meetzman. 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.

Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, an endangered lupine eater, This one from Indiana, while the specimen is not in great shape, at full resolution the scales and micro patterns are still beautiful

Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, an endangered lupine eater, This one from Indiana, while the specimen is not in great shape, at full resolution the scales and micro patterns are still beautiful

Montgomery County Maryland, Collected by Richard Orr

A set of male and female Macropis ciliata from NH, collected by Michael Veit on transmission lines...part of a David Wagner study of bees and transmission. This bee is special. Not as common as it once was and a specialist on Lysimachia natives. These plants produce oils that the Macropis add to their pollen balls for their babies. No Lysimachia...no Macropis.

A set of male and female Macropis ciliata from NH, collected by Michael Veit on transmission lines...part of a David Wagner study of bees and transmission. This bee is special. Not as common as it once was and a specialist on Lysimachia natives. These plants produce oils that the Macropis add to their pollen balls for their babies. No Lysimachia...no Macropis.

Arizona, Petrified Forest National Park, Apache County

Petrified Forrest National Monument = Rich in bees and bee species. In this case the semi cute Mactrotera latior. Many the these tiny Macrotera are plant specialists garnering pollen from only a few plant species. Sierra Willams took the pictures and Elizabeth Garcia did the photoshopping.

Mimi Jenkins collected this lovely nest parasite in the sandy watermelon fields outside of Charleston, South Carolina. This bee presumably is adding its egg to the nest of Agapostemon splendens a denizen of sandy areas around the eastern part of the continent. It is a male as you can tell from the amount of yellow on the face and the 13 antennal segments.