Images

Melissodes dentiventris, male, an uncommon denizen of dry sandy areas, specializing on pollination of composites...particularly maryland goldenaster. Collected in Anne Arundel County Maryland

Melissodes dentiventris, male, an uncommon denizen of dry sandy areas, specializing on pollination of composites...particularly maryland goldenaster. Collected in Anne Arundel County Maryland

Melissodes dentiventris, male, an uncommon denizen of dry sandy areas, specializing on pollination of composites...particularly maryland goldenaster. Collected in Anne Arundel County Maryland

There are many species of Melissodes and as you can see from this male, they aren't called Long-horn Bees for nothing. All or almost all of these species are summer to fall bees and most are fond to very fond of flowers in the Asteraceae family ... the fall composites by other names.

There are many species of Melissodes and as you can see from this male, they aren't called Long-horn Bees for nothing. All or almost all of these species are summer to fall bees and most are fond to very fond of flowers in the Asteraceae family ... the fall composites by other names.

A first state record for South Carolina. This is the uncommon Melissodes manipularis. Its a male as you can tell by the very long antennae. This bee was collected as part of a survey of coastal Spring Island by Merle Shepherd and compatriots.

A first state record for South Carolina. This is the uncommon Melissodes manipularis. Its a male as you can tell by the very long antennae. This bee was collected as part of a survey of coastal Spring Island by Merle Shepherd and compatriots.

The smiling and inscrutable face if Coelioxys modesta. Photography by Heagan Ahmed. Shopping by Wayne Boo.

Danaus plexippus. The Monarch Butterfly. Maryland.

Ghost Pipe, nice name for the parasitic plant. Who knew that it is now considered to be part of the Heath family with kinship to blueberries and cranberries. Pollinators go to the ghost pipe too. Plant and photo by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Adult female, Harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica, a common pest of brassicas, these were raised by the Weber USDA lab at Beltsville, Maryland

Cumberland Island National Seashore,Georgia

Velvet Ants are not ants but, rather, they are wasps and many of them are not the standard red colored velvet ant usually portrayed. Here is a small ochreish colored male (only males have wings) from California. For wasps they are quite hairy. So there. Photograph by Dejen Mengis.

The eastern subspecies of the Yellow-rumped warbler, Setophaga coronata. This bird ran into a building at night while it was migrating and was picked up by the Lights out DC group.

Jasper County, South Carolina, right across from Savannah Georgia sits Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. A refuge of dikes around huge old rice fields that now grow ducks and other marshlings. A few bees occur here, but diversity is pretty low as this is not so much a natural, but a managed habitat.

Melitoma taurea....a bindweed/morning glory specialist. This species seems to find the invasive non-native bindweeds perfectly acceptable and thus you can find it nesting right in the middle of cities as well in natural areas. Notable for the length of its tongue which, even when folded up extends to the abdomen.

A cranberry specialist. This bee is one of the few bees that specializes on bogs and bog plants and is found in scattered locations from Southern New England along the coastal plane to the Gulf Coast. This specimen was collected by Heather Campbell in the sandhills of North Carolina. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

A good Nomia pictures always makes them look like space aliens and they might as well be given how far far far different insects are from our particularly model of living on this earth. This space alien is from the deserts of Oman where there are most new species to find, deserts being high on the list of locations with high bee diversity.

Check out the rear pointing spines at the end of the thorax on this male Nomia from Vietnam, there has to be something interesting going on there. As with other Nomia this male has expanded hind leg segments, some nice pearl banding no the abdomen, and a little color pop from the thin trailing edges of the wings from wing interference patterns.

Size of bee makes a difference, even in terms of what bees get studied. Large bees attract even the non-biologists attention and thus Carpenter Bees and Bumblebees are well known around the world. Small bees, that don't bother or sting us can remain unstudied despite their abundance.

Unknown Parasitic Wasp, Cecil County, Maryland, Collected by Tim McMahon. Photographed by Wayne Boo.Canon 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