Images

Unknown Jumping spider, August 2012, Beltsville, Maryland, Benjamin A Coulter helped narrow this down to perhaps an immature Thiodina sylvana

Catterpillar of Endangered Karner Blue butterfly Lycaeides melissa samuelis, almost ready to pupate ...a.k.a. a fatty

Pupae of endangered Karner Blue Butterfly Lycaeides melissa samuelis

Birch Catkin Bug (Kleidocerys resedae) on a fish hook, Dorchester County, Maryland, lovely color and sculpturing patterns. Determination by Thijs de Graaf

Its just endless, the number of species of bees at Fossil Butte National Monument and the number of Lasioglossums Sweat Bees in the world. This one is L. prasinogaster. Pretty much looks like all the rest...mostly a Rocky Mountains thing...but a few found in the Pacific Northwest.

Ladybird pupa, White Oak leaf, Beltsville, Maryland, August 2012, determination by speech path girl

A series of 6 pictures of 3 species of very uncommon beetles that are new records for the region from George Washington Memorial Parkway unit of the National Park Service. Collected by Brent Steury. Hallomenus scapularis is a beetle of polypore fungi. There are 2 color forms which may or may not be different species.

Another Chrysidid wasp (cuckoo wasp) from the Hart-Miller Dredge Spoil site in Baltimore Harbor, collected by Eugene Scarpulla, photographed by Brooke Alexander Identification by Lynn KimseyCanon 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 o

One of the first woodland plants flowering in the spring....am looking forward to the plants waking up this year and the cycle starting anew. Specimen and photography by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Dominican Republic,floating in hand sanitizer in a cuvette Heteropteran, species unknown

A bee with a fat leg, or at least a wide one. Which is the most distinguising feature of this bee that sadly looks like a whole bunch of other Lasioglossum species. The name? = ...Lasioglossum callidum. i Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Such a lovely blue and relatively unusual in the Genus Lasioglossum. At least in the East there is no other Lasioglossum so extensively and uniformly blue. So blue that it is often mistaken for an Osmia. This species is associated with woodlands, feeding on the vernal flora of the woods and nearby fields and nesting in rotten wood.

More L. coreiaceum pictures...these are from a specimen taken as part of global climate change study at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Lasioglossum creberrimum, Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas

Brianne Du Clos, collected this common Lasioglossum in Maine...probably in or near a blueberry field. Unlike most of our specimens you can see the pollen all over this specimen. Photograph by Dejen Mengis.

Brianne Du Clos, collected this common Lasioglossum in Maine...probably in or near a blueberry field. Unlike most of our specimens you can see the pollen all over this specimen. Photograph by Dejen Mengis.

Lasioglossum egregium, nicely patterned bands of hair on its hinders, this is a common bee in the West. This particular one is from Bryce Canyon National Park. More to see in Bryce than a bunch of rocks, I think. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Lasioglossum eleutherense, female, Florida, National Park Service, Biscayne National Park

Cuba, GTMO, Guantanamo Bay

Cuba, GTMO, Guantanamo Bay

Well, someone has to take pictures of all these small metallic Lasioglossums. This is L. flaveriae. A Deep South species. I associate it with southern, piney flatlands, but it is based on partial understandings. Bees are so tiny and we look under Mother Nature's hood in so few places.