Images

Goldenseal. Hydrastis canadensis. Another early spring bloomer. A long history as a native medicinal plant on the continent. Helen Low Metzman collected the specimen and took the picture.

Wow, check out the expanded basal segments of this male Hylaeus basalis. Probably as big as they get in perhaps any bee in the world. Other Hylaeus have expanded segments (sexual selection?) but not like this. This bee is form Isle Royale a very large island in Superior with all sorts of interesting bees.

The female of the previous bee.

New State Record for Maryland, April 2012 Collected on Willow blooms in Somerset County....a very rarely collected bee east of the Mississippi. I don't know any recent records

Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, non-native species, collected by Stephanie Wilson

A lovely Hylaeus from Australia with some nice yellow pinstriping on the face and bold swaths on the scuttellum, pronotal lobe, and metanotum. From the Packer Bee Laboratory. 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.

Hylaeus ornatus is a masked bee, one that is always associated with wetlands. These wetlands can be freshwater marshy spots or they can be the backsides of salt marshes. Almost all have lovely red basal portions of the their abdomen. Some do not. We have series of these bees in a DNA lab to see if these two groups are different or the same.

A wetlands bee, usually with red on the basal segments of the abdomen but not always. The males with extensive yellow on their faces. Here from the marshes of Kent County, Maryland

Colors. You know, bees are so interesting sometimes. Here is Hylaeus pictipes. Jason Gibbs found this species up in Ontario, Canada where it did not belong since it is a bee of the Old World.

Colors. You know, bees are so interesting sometimes. Here is Hylaeus pictipes. Jason Gibbs found this species up in Ontario, Canada where it did not belong since it is a bee of the Old World.

Potentially new species of Hylaeus from Puerto Rico...certainly new to the island. Collected by Sara Prado. Pictures by Brooke Alexander. 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.

A dune specialist. You won't find this species anywhere except in the dunes immediately along the ocean. As such it is a poster child for vulnerability to coastal sea level change and global climate change.

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. I particularly like the layout of this shot, the two pairs of wings are nicely symmetrical and the eye glints in just the way you want an eye to glint.

From Bryce Canyon National Park, comes one of the many many Lasioglossum that inhabit the continent. Often generalist pollination workhorses, they keep Bryce Canyon going without a lot of fanfare.

A common and rather plain sweat bee. Lasioglossum hitchensi. Decorated with pumpkin pollen...some of the largest pollen grains in the world. Collected by Laura Russo in Pennsylvania. Photo by Greta Forbes.

Lasioglossum incompletum. Last in the series from the badlands.

A common little bee of the Badlands. Lasioglossum incompletum is at the eastern edge of its range here at the Badlands. No one really realizes that the world is dominated by small bees. So much for bumble bees. Picture by Anders Croft.

Male Lasioglossum can be tricky. Here is one of the dark ones from the highly bee productive Fossil Butte National Monument.

A pretty little Lasioglossum from the Dialictus group. This bee was collected in the San Juan Island national historic Park in Washington state. Photograph by Brooke Alexander. 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.

Lasioglossum leucozonium, female

One of what seem like one billion different kinds of small shiny slightly metallic Lasioglossum species. This one characterized by very sparse pitting on the top of the thorax and bit more glintyness on the abdomen (yep, not great characters).