Images

Cotesia congregata - a little parasite of caterpillars. This one is from Karen Kester's lab in Richmond where she and her gradstudents raise them and discover things about the host (Sphinx moths I believe) parasite relationship. Photo by Greta Forbes.

Coelioxys vigilans, Female, Dominican Republic, Hispaniola, Nest parasites of Megachile nests

Spotted lady beetle,Coleomegilla maculata, a relatively common native species of lady beetle, sadly most of the most common lady beetles are not native these days. This one, interestingly, feeds an awful lot on pollen from flowers, and therefore I often catch it when collecting bees.

Colletes aestivalis. Rare? or Not Rare? This is a Heuchera specialist. Heuchera is planted everywhere, why is the species not seen and seen by some as a potential species of concern. A few things pilgrim.

Colletes brevocornis, and uncommonly collected species, one that I associate with dry open areas, it is perhaps a specialist on Venus looking glass in the campanulae family. Difficult to say, since so few have been collected but that is our best guess at this time.

Photo by Anders Croft 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, USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into th

Colletes thoracicus. One of the cellophane bees. Aggregates in large numbers in loose soil or cliff faces. Photographer is Greta Forbes.

For whatever reason we haven't taken any very good pictures of this here bee, Colletes thoracicus. This species is one of two that form huge aggregations in loose or sandy soils in the Eastern U.S. Very cool and for some reason lacking any Bee Nest Parasites (Epeolus) that haunt other Colletes.

Rarity here. This is species was described in the 1950s, named after the town it was collected near and only a handful of specimens have ever been collected that I am aware of. In fact it is so rare that it was on our list of "missing" species, published in 2011.

Note the short split tongue, characteristic of Colletes. Badlands National Park

Colletes nudus, male, Florida Duval County 2007

Colletes thysanellae, female

Male Colletes brimleyi

South Carolina

Cotesia congregata - a little parasite of caterpillars. This one is from Karen Kester's lab in Richmond where she and her gradstudents raise them and discover things about the host (Sphinx moths I believe) parasite relationship. Photo by Greta Forbes.

An unknown Crab Spider or perhaps running crab spider, identification help would be great, I hope to post another shot of the back at some point. Beltsville, Maryland

Appropriately coming from the latin noun for emerald, comes this large lovely from western Australia.

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Christmas lights jumping spider from the Dominican Republic, species unknown, but surprisingly marked with fluorescent scales

Tenebrionidae, found at night chewing on a small patch of shelf fungi on a stump in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Another unknown Chrysops species from Maryland, see assocaited back shot for possible id, collected from the resulting cloud of flies after a run through Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Maryland