Images

Exoneura species, Two-tone Reed Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaLong: Reed Bees are found only on the continent of Australia and it is likely that most of the 41 species nest in the pithy centers of plant stems, similar to the Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina).

Exoneura species, Two-tone Reed Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaLong: Reed Bees are found only on the continent of Australia and it is likely that most of the 41 species nest in the pithy centers of plant stems, similar to the Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina).

Spodoptera frugiperda - Fall Armyworm, another defoliating moth species, slightly different from the previous series on the Southern Armyworm.

Corn Destructor! Not the beautiful form pictured here, but her rapacious teenagers, who tresspass, and just trash fields of corn, hide as pupae and repeat the whole cycle. Oh BTW this is the Fall Armyworm. Spodoptera frugiperda. Quite pretty really.

Cicindela scutellaris - the Festive Tiger Beetle, found on top of a butte in Badlands National Park that had ancient windblown sand at its crest, very different from the rest of the gumbo soils of the park. Here this sand specialist can build its long burrows. Experimenting with using Black Velvet as a background ...

I love bird feet...Here is the curved, plated, semi-reptilian presentation of a lost dinosaur in the form of a Field Sparrow that lost its life running into a window at night in Washington D.C. during migration.

Yellow-shafted Flicker - Died in downtown Washington D.C. in the fall or spring of 2012 from striking a building at night. Retrieved by the Lights out DC program

An uncommon specialist on Pontedaria (Pickerelweed) in this case trapped by Matt Greenstone at the US National Arboretum and a first record for the city.

Wyoming, Fossil Butte National Monument. Identification please

Experiment: Ah, what a difference fresh specimens make, having retained their color, and a tweak of the technique, this just about ready to emerge mosquito pupae expired within 15 minutes or so of its picture being taken.

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Geothlypis trichas, Common Yellowthroat, Stuck the Thurgood Marshall Building, May of 2012 in Washington D.C. in migration

Bees Trained to Collect Gold DustIn the Upper Congo past gold mining's legacy left a moonscape of large and small open pits. Some of these pits date to the turn of the previous century.

Charidotella sexpunctata - One of the many variations of this electric beetle, exquisite in its color, form, and blends of neon all free of charge from your friend: Nature.Upper Marlboro, MarylandCanon 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 .p

Rattlesnake Plantain. Oh, look an orchid. An orchid that is not too uncommon in acidy woodlands. What a lovely leaf too. Picture and specimen by Helen Low Metzman.

Graphocephala versuta - A beautiful multiculored, but minute leafhopper, here captured and photographed in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Graphocephala versuta - A beautiful multiculored, but minute leafhopper, here captured and photographed in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

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I feel like I should know what this beetle is...but I do not. It has a tortoise beetle feel. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Anne Arundel County, MD Identified as Gratiana pallidula, Eggplant Tortoise Beetle by Treegoat. Living specimens are a nice hospital green.