Images

A series of shots of Citrus Psyllid adults (including a recently emerged white adult) , and larvae of Diaphorina citri which is the transporting agent of citrus greening disease now devastating Florida's orange groves. Pictures taken at Level 3 level quarantine at USDA's Lab at Ft. Detrick, Maryland. Thanks to Tina Paul for fascilitating all of this.

Dominican Republic

Cardamine hirsuta, Beltsville, Maryland

Hold Poo Over its Body - Yep, this is Cassida rubiginosa the Thistle Tortoise Beetle brought over here to fight the Canada Thistle, which is not actually from Canada, but just another example of how we try to bring Canada down by associating it with Alien Pests.

A Western Hemisphere group, with a good number of species. These are very fast fliers and, at least the North American species tend to be crepuscular and plant specialists, often associated with sandy/dune areas.

A Western Hemisphere group, with a good number of species. These are very fast fliers and, at least the North American species tend to be crepuscular and plant specialists, often associated with sandy/dune areas.

Georgia, 2011, Rare Morning Glory Specialist

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More experiments. This is a small centipede found under a board in my yard in Upper Marlboro, MD. It is possibly and immature, but am unsure of how to tell. Taken at 10x with our new lens sytem while floating in a cuvette filled with hand sanitizer.

Puerto Rico! What a snappy looking bee with its orange, yellow, and glinting blue patterns interspersed with the standard blacks and whites of most bees. How lovely to that this is a bee found in agricultural areas...a sort of Bumble Bee replacement in a land where Bumble Bees don't exist. Collected by Sara Prado in her investigations of agriculture and bees.

Bahamas

How could one not love the Genus of Ceratina? Elegant, with just the right combination of extra interesting features to keep the interest up. Note the raised clypeus in this one and the lovely fat hairs along the abdominal sections. From the collections of Sandra Rehan at the University of New Hampshire.

Tiny Ceratina from Panama...in the first picture in this series you will see a rod going into its body to hold it in position for photographing in our mini bee studio. Actually this is not a rod but the very tip of the finest acupuncture pin. Yep, that is a small bee.

Yep, there are a lot of Ceratinas out there in the world. Here is the last in the series of Ceratinas from Sandra Rehan. As usual it is a small one from Panama. Tiny bees almost always have plenty of wing pop...no exception here.

Ceratina species in the Domincan Republic

Yet more Ceratina pictures, diversity demands it. This series is from specimens collected in Panama by Sandra Rehan (UNH) as part of her mission to know everything there is to know about Ceratinas.

More Hylaeus from Panama, this little species was collected by Sandra Rehan, lovely wing pop or wing interference patterns. So glossy you can see the camera lens in the reflections.

More Hylaeus from Panama, this little species was collected by Sandra Rehan, lovely wing pop or wing interference patterns. So glossy you can see the camera lens in the reflections.

Ceratina smaragdula, male, and introduced bee, Hawaii, Oahu, March 2012

Female Ceratina strenua

This lovely purple blue Chrysidid wasp was found be Gene Scarpulla on the dredge spoil augmented Hart-Miller Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It is interesting to ponder whey these nest parasites are inevitably a bright metallic color and not something seemingly more cryptic (cryptic to an insect and cryptic to a mammal are likely two different things).