Images

Here is the male of the recently posted female Andrena arabis. The male illustrates what happens periodically with some of the males of this largely brown, dark group of mining bees which is that a few of them have a yellow, or in this case and off-white, clypeus. Surely this must be some sort of sexual signal as the females almost never have these markings.

Here is the male of the recently posted female Andrena arabis. The male illustrates what happens periodically with some of the males of this largely brown, dark group of mining bees which is that a few of them have a yellow, or in this case and off-white, clypeus. Surely this must be some sort of sexual signal as the females almost never have these markings.

Number 2 in our new series on bee ID....Agapostemon Males

Unknown Beetle. Found on Andelot Farms in Kent County. I am not sure what genus this is. Seems like Acmaeodera, but it doesn't match and of the region's species I know. Captured in June. Photographed by Brooke Alexander.

Andrena miserabilis, showing sharp pronotal corners

Sample of Dead Birds that struck buildings in Washington D.C. during the Fall and Spring of 2012 in a short stretch of streets from Union Station to the Convention Center, photo stitched together from 18 separate hi res shots.

Catching up, again, with our backlog of pictures. Here is one of the most common Andrena species in the mid-Atlantic. Andrena cressonii. Photographed by Dejen Mengis.

The very common Two-striped Planthopper, Notice the veining in the wing that mimics the veins of a very tiny leaf.

Bee tool, from a monster cleptoparasite, endemic to South America. Note the lovely expanded tibial spurs. I do not know their function, but it may have to do with nest invasions of Centris, either digging or gripping the walls of the nest. Lovely metallic blue / purple colors. From the Packer Lab.

The red maple, Acer rubrum, often one of the most dominant trees in deciduous woods in the East. It blooms very early in the spring and provides pollen and nectar to the set of bees, and flower flies, that come out early.

Lovely wasp from Kruger National Park. Again, not being a wasp person, I don't know the species. The group may be the sand wasp (Bembicini) . Photos by Anders Croft.

A series of pictures from Silas Bossert from the National Collection at the Smithsonian. They use their own hi res camera equipment, but prefer a light background. Here we have Afromelecta lieftincki, a nest parasite. While no one has confirmed what this species parasitizes, it is likely given its relatives, that it parasitizes Anthophora type bees.

Pennington County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Pennington County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

A large bright green with blue overtones Agapostemon from Badlands National Park. One of several species present there and very similar to A. virescens and a bit tricky to tell apart. Photo by Wayne Boo with help from Ben Smith on upping the Photoshopping techniques.

Pennington County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Yet another Agapostemon, this one was collected in the southern remote portions of Badlands National Park in South Dakota within the Pineridge Indian ReservationCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Yet another Agapostemon, this one was collected in the southern remote portions of Badlands National Park in South Dakota within the Pineridge Indian ReservationCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Gliding in from Costa Rica comes a moderalely large, moderately green bee. An Agapostemon nasutus. There are a lot of the these bright green bees out there...Not just in C.R. but throughout the Americas. Beautiful, and once you start paying attention, quite common. But are there any songs written about them? No. Poems? Zero. Green Bee Secret Societies?

Dominican Republic, The only described all black Agapostemon in the Caribbean is from Cuba. (A. obscuratus). Collected in November of 2012. This is either A. obscuratus and a new record for Hispaniola or a new species.

A dark spring Andrena mining bee seen throughout the East in woodlands and the edge of woodlands foraging on the blooms of trees and the flowers that appear in early spring within rich deciduous woods. Andrena carlini is often the most common Andrena. One of the few bees in this large taxonomic group with dark pollen collecting hairs.