Images

Sunflowers. Specifically, the genus Helianthus to separate out the other "sunflower" plants. Only found in North America. So tall and glorious that we have adopted many for our gardens. Thrusting skyward they telegraph their supply of pollen and nectar to the bees that only feed their young pollen of Sunflower. Here is one of them. The appropriately named A.

Andrena ziziaformis meaning ... of the form of zizia...meaning kind of like Andrena zizia....which means the Andrena bee that collects the pollen of the plant Zizia...aka... Golden Alexanders. This little, tiny Andrena male has wonderful example of WIPS, wing interference patterns that show up in small Hymenoptera of many kinds. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

We are finally getting around to some of the common bees of the region. This one is Andrena miserabilis. Why miserabilis for a name? Not sure, it is not a particularly miserable bee, it comes out early in the spring and can be found in almost any environment from backyard to Woodlands.

Andrena ceanothi, female

Andrena crataegi, female

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Andrena fragilis, male, Cecil County, Maryland, June 2012

Andrena gardineri, Maryland, Garrett County, May 2012

Maryland

Andrena miserabilis, showing sharp pronotal corners

Andrena nigrihirta, female, Isle Royale National Park, Michigan

Pennington County, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

Andrena illini, A rather large, spring bee, I associate this one with Woodlands and the edge of Woodlands, where found them feeding on blackberries in particular. This one was collected in Somerset County by Timothy McMahon. Photograph by Hannah Sutton.

Andrena Illini. Named after the University of Illinois football team by Wally LaBerge. While he was one of the great taxonomy experts that we recently lost. He was a specialist in Andrena and Melissodes and dabbled in several other genera of bees.

Andrena illini, female

Andrena illinoiensis, South Dakota, Badlands National Park,

Andrena illinoiensis, South Dakota, Badlands National Park,

Andrena lupinorum, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Pennington County

Andrena mariae, female

Antidium porterae....we recently uploaded somem pictures of the male and here, now, is the female. Collected in Hildalgo County, NM by an A. Melin. Note on the side shot the belly full of pollen attached to the pollen collecting hairs located there.

Just a quick upload of an Anthidium utahense. There should be a couple more pictures coming. This from Claire Kremen's work in California. Photo by Erick Hernandez.