Images

Dominican Republic

From Bryce Canyon National Park comes a small Lasioglossum, similar to many other species of this specious genus. Western in distribution I know actually nothing about its life. Picture by Brooke Alexander.

A very southern Lasioglossum, this one sneaking up the coast only about as far as this site on Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Another one of those metallic Lasioglossums in the Dialictus group....so similar until you look at them under the microscope ...where they continue to look so similar. It is a world of nuance to us, but somehow many Lasioglossum species evolve, do different things, partition the sexual universe and become species.

Another one of those metallic Lasioglossums in the Dialictus group....so similar until you look at them under the microscope ...where they continue to look so similar. It is a world of nuance to us, but somehow many Lasioglossum species evolve, do different things, partition the sexual universe and become species.

A very southern Lasioglossum, this one sneaking up the coast only about as far as this site on Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Nacogodoches County, texas, Big Thicket National Preserve

null

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected by Stephanie Wilson at the Morris Arboretum

Check out the large ocelli on this bad boy. This is Lasioglossum texanum, a dusk loving bee that is out late when the Oenothera (evening primroses) bloom. This is a male, and was found in South Dakota in Badlands National Park.

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

Lasioglossum versatum. One of the most common little sweat bees in the East. Particularly common in the cooler mid-latitudes. These bees can dominate the captures in surveys of bee species of a region. Something of a mess taxonomically.

One of the common Dialictus group Lasioglossum species, often involved in confusion among several similar species. This one collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland

One of the common Dialictus group Lasioglossum species, often involved in confusion among several similar species. This one collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland

Often the most common Lasioglossum at a location in the East. This is Lasioglossum versatum. While common it has the sad trait of sometimes looking like L. trigeminum or L. callidum or L. adimirandum. In isolation they all seem so separable, but since they often occur at the same site and have a tendency to look slightly similar it can be a nightmare.

Darn it. As I was loading this picture I realized that we already had a picture of this very same uncommon specimen...That said, I like this shot better, additionally Wayne Boo, the photographer in this case did not cut the edge of the wing off as in the other one.

Megachile lanata, female, GTMO, Cuba, A species originally from Africa, but now present in many of the tropical parts of the world

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.

Here is a bee from Acadia National Park in Hancock County Maine. The park is one of the few places that has information about its historic bee populations., Resulting in one of the very very few instances of a historic record of any kind of bee populations in North America. An Illustration of How Poorly Known the bee fauna of the continent is currently.

Megachile melanopyga: This species has two generations in a year, with the 2nd generation being very abundant on autumn asters. Collected by the fabulous Jelle Devalez on the mysterious Lesvos Island in Greece. Photo taken by Sara Guerrieri.