Images

Bombus fraternus. The Southern Plains Bumble Bee. This crisp, handsome and short-faced bee suffers from lack of an adequate publicist. Thought, several other Bumble Bees in its clan, to be in decline from introduced pathogens. It gets little mention in the bee press.

Check the eyes out on this male Bumble Bee. We already put up a spread of female B. fraternus, but the male has some pretty unique features for bumble bees. For one, the eyes are HUGE, they nearly meet at the top of the head. Only a few other bumbles do that...and the face is extremely short, with the mandibles almost joined to the bottom of the eyes.

This is one of the species that seems to be holding its own in terms of numbers. This worker has a corbicula on its tibia full of a mix of pollen and nectar, it is laying on a piece of black felt. I like the the contrast in textures

Philadelphia Bee Survey, 2012, Pennsylvania, Stephanie Wilson Collector, Morris Arboretum

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, note the ragged edges to the wing....this is an old worker who has been collecting nectar for a while, eventually it will no longer be able to fly or will have been eaten

From Yellowstone National Park comes the powerful Bombus insularis, and this parasite of other bumblebees is one bad ass bee. collected as part of a high elevation study of the Alpine areas throughout the United States, with the idea that climate change first reaches the tops of things and the bottom of things (oceans that is).

A very large Chrysidid Wasp from Kruger National Park, species unknown, Anders Croft photographer.

The Endangered Bumble Bee. Bombus affinis. The Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee. Here is a a male from Racine Wisconsin collected years ago when this species was one of the most common species. The collector was W.L. Macior and his specimens live in the National Collection at the Smithsonian.

A common Western bumblebee. This one comes via Glacier National Park as part of a survey of vulnerable areas in National Parks.

A common spring bumble bee, Bombus bimaculatus, one of the species of bumble bees that have not seemed to have declined since the introduction of Nosema bombi a parasite from Europe. This one was collected by Laura Russo near State College Pennsyvania.

Bombus bimaculatus, female, Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Some bumble bees are parasites. A common theme in the bee world...to the tune of about 20% of all the species. Why go to all that work gathering pollen when you can just lay your egg in someone else's nest. Then in an evolutionary spy vs.

A lovely slightly florescent orange bumble bee from Taiwan. So many combinations of color and form in each genus of bee! 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.

Bombus ashtoni! This is news. This species of bumble bee is nest parasite. They take over the nests of other bumble bees and use the host's workers to produce their progeny. This one is special because its known hosts are B. affinis (the endangered Rusty-patched Bumble Bee) and B.

A beautiful pale white and green horse fly from North Carolina, Chlorotabanus crepuscular, a drinker of blood that comes out only at dawn and dusk, this is a southern species I had not seen before. This specimen was collected in Duck, North Carolina by Lisa Kuder. Picture taken by Ashleigh Jacobs.

A beautiful pale white and green horse fly from North Carolina, Chlorotabanus crepuscular, a drinker of blood that comes out only at dawn and dusk, this is a southern species I had not seen before. This specimen was collected in Duck, North Carolina by Lisa Kuder. Picture taken by Ashleigh Jacobs.

Choristoneura parallelaon fishhook, Upper Marlboro, July 2012

OK, we are going small, so small that the naked eye (or my naked eye) can't see these bad boys. The 20X Mitutoyo microscope objective opens up a new world. Here the mites on Bob Trumbule's mite infested Christmas Cactus come out beautifully. Too bad I have no idea what group/species they are. Note the stomata's in the picture of the nymph/larvae.

Always good for a lingering look is the glitzy Chrysidid Wasp group. I am not sure what species this is but it was found during Adirondack ATBI bioblitz this past week and was used to demonstrate the camera set up for the crowd. A nest parasite, usually of hymenoptera, one has to wonder ... why so metallic Mr. Wasp? Stack taken by Dejen Mengis.

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