Images

If you want a group of bees that generally present themselves well and look like bees not wasps choose the Digger Bee grouip. This male Anthophora californica was collected by Don Harvey in Hidalgo County, NM. Dryland area for sure and the distribution sits right in the dry areas of the West.

Anthophora curta....found in the drylands/deserts of western U.S. and Mexico. This is a rather small Anthophora and like many of the group, well groomed with small, short, mini=branched hairs. It seems to prefer composites and this particular one was found near the nowhere place of San Simone, Arizona at the eastern edge of its range. Collected by Don Harvey.

Compact small bee want to meet compact small flowers. Anthophora flexipes is definitely cute, though, of course, we can let that shade its importance as a pollinator in the high lands of Yosemite National Park.

Very raggedy picture of Anthophora occidentalis from the Badlands of South Dakota

Very raggedy picture of Anthophora occidentalis from the Badlands of South Dakota

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From Santa Rosa Island , one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California and part of the Channel Islands National Park come this tiny Ashmeadiella. 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.

Hemipteran, found in my office today, Beltsville, Maryland. Identified as a nymphal Assassin but of the genus Zelus by Speech Path Girl.... In hand sanitizer with plastic knife in the base to decrease refractions that lighten the lower sections...seem to work, but am now thinking that I need to get some crystal cuvettes that may have better visual acuity....

One of THE most common bees in Eastern North America and one of the most woodland oriented. This species nests in rotting wood and I have found them overwintering underneath the loose bark of logs on the ground.

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, Dark Purple/Blue form of this species that often occurs in coastal and Deep South situations

One of the most common bees in Eastern North America....a particular lover of open fields, this one from Boonesboro, Maryland

A western Augochlorella species... this time from Zion National Park in Utah, known for its rock formations, but also protecting some darn nice bees. Kim Huntzinger identified this bad boy and Wayne Boo took the shot today and of course the staff of Zion did the bee catching.

Biscayne National Park, male Florida, A Southeaster Bee of the deepest iridescence

The female face of the series we took of B. vandykei from Yosemite National Park. Just cleaning up.

Bombus variabilis, male, St. Mary's County, Maryland, Nest parasite, now extremely rare

Brachyhesma species, Australian Minute Bee, specimen collected in AustraliaLong: Until recently those who worked on the taxonomy of bees, or taxonomy in general for that matter, were men. Culturally that imbalance is now shifting, though we clearly still have a ways to go.

Brown Lacewing, Symperhobius species? Note the very lovely carved brass mesh eye, Beltsville, Maryland

Look closely at the stinkbugs in your house...there is a great deal of beauty there. Halyomorpha halys

Look closely at the stinkbugs in your house...there is a great deal of beauty there. Halyomorpha halys

Look closely at the stinkbugs in your house...there is a great deal of beauty there. Halyomorpha halys

Beetles from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is the start of a series of pictures of insects that come to the flowers in Kruger. This is a project led by James Harrison from S.A. and Jonathan Mawdsley from the U.S. I was lucky enough to come along and do some bee collecting. Interesting system.