Images

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

This ubiquitous North American species can be found gathering mud for its nest almost anywhere. I have collected it in urban areas to remote villages in the center of Guyana. This specimen is from Key Biscayne National Park in Florida and was arrayed without a pin by Brooke in our lab and then photgraphed on a piece of glass by Ben

The flower of the Starvine. Schisandra glabra. Photograph by Helen Lowe Metzman.

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Scolia dubia, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

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A wee 2mm Perilampid from Hart-Miller Island collected by Gene Scarpulla and awaiting final determination.

The June Bug, whose babies are some of the white grubs you with you wouldn't find in your garden, but at least they are native and you should really share your world.....

Dragonette. My competitor. AKA the Jagged Ambush Bug. These flower dragons tuck into flowers and jump on the bees (an other insects) that I study, injects them, liquefies their insides, and sucks them out, just like some people do emotionally to others. Rugged.

If you are a bumble bee (how fascinating if you were...) this fly would be your worst nightmare. You be flying along, warmed by the sun as you joyfully gathered pollen and nectar from flowers, then Wham, this fly, about half your size, would latch onto you and with the tip of its abdomen force itself between your abdominal segments and insert its egg.

Rhynchomitra microrhina, the lovely and colorful front end of the this lovely and colorful long-nosed Dictyopharid planthopper. It appears to feed on grasses and joins the huge world of native plant driven biodiversity. Can you buy a Rhynchomitramicrorhina at the big box store?

Tachytes species, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Tarsalia persica, Persian Asymmetric bee, collected in Iran. 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.

Tarsalia persica, Persian Asymmetric bee, collected in Iran. 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.

One of two beetles pictured from a collection of UV trap material from Little St. Simons Island on Coastal Georgia this past month. Potentially the start of a new monitoring program. I pulled these two out to take pictures simply because they were cool looking. Doug Yanega identified them as Tenebrionid beetles.

One of two beetles pictured from a collection of UV trap material from Little St. Simons Island on Coastal Georgia this past month. Potentially the start of a new monitoring program. I pulled these two out to take pictures simply because they were cool looking. Doug Yanega identified them as Tenbrionide. Collected by Eric who is a naturalist on the Island.

The wee head of a winged termite found near the lab hear in Maryland. Taken with our 10X microscope lens.

Spectacular in its glittering blue hairs, this humpbacked bee is another nest parasite, in this case it lays its eggs in the nests of Blue-banded bees (Amegilla). This particular baby was collected in the Philippines by C.F. Baker in the early part of the last century.

Another Thyreus...this one white and of unknown species and from Ethiopia. You can see from frazzled ends of the wings this female was relatively old. Like all Thyreus it breaks open the nests of Amegilla and perhaps other related species such as Anthophora.

Another view of the lovely golden tortoise beetle. Upper Marlboro, Maryland. 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

Upper Marlboro, MD, May 2012This species has a common name:Dimorphic Tosale Mothbut it also has been named by the Doug InkleyThe George Washington Moth