Images

Older and no so great shots (technically speaking) of Florilegus condignus. You can see tons of butterfly scales on this specimen from who knows what species were caught with it at the same time. You will find that Florilegus only collects pollen from pickerelweed (Pontedaria).

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.

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.

Muscid fly of some sort, floating in Hand Sanitizer

A very small fly. You can tell how small it is as you can see the out of focus tip to the insect pin to the right of the head shot. Not sure what species, but the beauty of the wing and the white integument and contrasty hair and eyes were appealing.

Unknown species of fly found in Upper Marlboro, Maryland

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

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

The Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum, not your grandmother's house plant, but a wild, native relative. You can see its resemblance. A haunter of bottomlands and an important nectar and pollen source for bees in the spring....including a couple of specialists. Specimen and photograph by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Euperilampus triangularis , Maryland, Garrett County, July 2012Perilampidae

Euphorbia helioscopia...growing near building...possibly naturalized, but the area had not been planted for years, determined by Bill Harmes from photo

Euryglossina leyburnensis, Cylidrical Perplexing Bee, collected in AustraliaDoes this look like a bee? Not really, and indeed the Cylindrical Perplexing Bee has fooled many a melittologist (the self-proclaimed name for those of us who instead of becoming plumbers or presidents took up the study of bees). Why does it look so different?

Dominican Republic

Exomalopsis pulchella, female, GTMO, CUBA, June 2011

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 ...

Dead Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, that sadly ran into the windows of a building in Washington D.C. while migrating.

A foot, a beautiful foot, a foot of a beautiful Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla, that ran into the windows of a building in Washington D.C. while migrating.

Here is a Field Sparrow that lost its life running into a window at night in Washington D.C. during migration. This one picked up by the Lights out Washington group that counts birds that strike buildings at night in the relatively low buildings surrounding the Capitol and the Mall.

Halictus poeyi and its counterpart Halictus ligatus are 2 of the most common bees in Eastern North America. H. poeyi is runs to the south and H. ligatus to the north. There is enough overlap in characters that at this point they are considered indistinguishable. These species are well in the known range of only H. poeyi in St.