Images

Another one of those metallic Lasioglossums in the Dialictus group....so similar until you look at them under the microscope ...where they continue to look so similar. It is a world of nuance to us, but somehow many Lasioglossum species evolve, do different things, partition the sexual universe and become species.

Lasioglossum tamiamense is a small, very southern, bee of the sweat bee the variety. It's one of those subtleties of identification that taxonomists spend a lot of time on, but doesn't involve a whole lot of other people.

From one of the coastal National Parks in St. John's County in Florida comes a lovely red-legged Lasioglossum tarponense. I think of this species as a sand specialist...living in the Florida scrubby sand coastal pine matrix that forms an important part of the natural matrix of the region behind the sand dunes.

Joan Milam collected this particular Lasioglossum. Darn if it doesn't look like all the rest of them. Photography by Brooke Alexander. 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.

Grand Tetons have the grand Lasioglossum lilliputense. Very cute. Photography by Brooke Alexander. 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.

Lasioglossum lineatulum is defined in my mind by having relatively few pits on its scutum, a shinyish abdomen, and long straitions on the propodeal triangle. Otherwise it looks similar to the 100 plus other species in the group. This one was captured on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.

From Cumberland Island National Seashore another little Lasioglossum from the glossy metallic Dialictus group. As its name implies...it has an unusually long head.

Lasioglossum marinense, from the San Juan Islands National Historic Park, found in the eastern parts of the Pacific Northwest. Photograph by Dejen Mengis.

Lasioglossum marinum, Female, Florida, National Park Service, Fort Matanzas National Monument

Cuba, GTMO Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

From Organ Pipe National Monument comes the small and very common western Lasioglossum microlepoides. Just like the seemingly endless supply of these small Halictid bees, it is slightly metallic and and has a strongly bent basal vein. One could spent a couple lives just figuring out the different species. Photography by Brooke Alexander.

Lasioglossum nevadense from San Juan Islands National Monument in the farrrr northwest corner of the United States mainland.

Cuba, GTMO, Guantanamo Bay

Female Northern Black Widow Spider, Beltsville, MD Prince George's County, Collected by Jessica Zelt

Unknown Leaf Beetle collected and , at Kenilworth Aquatic gardens. Nice shot showing the exposed flying wings under the wing coverings you would normally only see (elytra). Small about the size of a grain of rice. Photo by Sydney Price.

Unknown Leafhopper, Placed in handsanitizer in a cuvette, Beltsville, Maryland

The False Potato Beetle. Closely related to the Colorado Potato Beetle, but prefers other potato relatives such as Horsenettle. Proportions, colors, layout....exquisite. Collected by the fabulous potato beetle researcher Don Weber at the Beltsville Agriculture Research Center.

A study of proportions, particularly the area around the eye, this Angulate Spittlebug was captured in Upper Marlboro, MarylandCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

A micro arrangement of moss and Cladonia lichen a few millimeters wide.

Another micro arrangement of moss and lichen a few millimeters wide. 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

Megachile campanulae, male, Kent County, Maryland, June 2012