Images

A very deserty looking bee from the deserts of Bryce Canyon National Park. Lovely patterns. 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.

A very deserty looking bee from the deserts of Bryce Canyon National Park. Lovely patterns. 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.

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.

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.

Lasioglossum forbesii - A relatively uncommon sweat bee from near Front Royal, Virginia at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Lasioglossum fuscipenne, Beltsville, Maryland, June Collected by Francisco Posada

A dune specialist. You won't find this species anywhere except in the dunes immediately along the ocean. As such it is a poster child for vulnerability to coastal sea level change and global climate change.

One of the tricky clade of a small black bees that occur throughout the West. In this case the species of Lasioglossum glabriventre was found at fossil Butte national Monument. You should visit because it is rich in bees and apparently fossils to. Picture taken by Sue Boo.

Of the many types of shiny little sweat bees, this is a large one, not that anyone would notice. Named after the Gotham of Gotham City this species occurs sparingly often in woodlands in the East. I particularly like the layout of this shot, the two pairs of wings are nicely symmetrical and the eye glints in just the way you want an eye to glint.

Captured as part of a Global Climate Change investigation in National Park Dune systems, yet another tricky Dialictus is photographed here. As the name suggests it is a lover of salt, in this case, salt marshes.. Photograph taken by Kamren Jefferson, bee captured in Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve

The underside of the head of Lasioglossum heterognathum. An uncommon species that has the feature that can be seen here, which is that the recessed area that holds the folded tongue (the hypostomal cavity) widens out towards the mandibles rather than stays as a parallel sided slot like other Lasioglossum species. Yawn, I know. Photograph by Amanda Robinson.

From Bryce Canyon National Park, comes one of the many many Lasioglossum that inhabit the continent. Often generalist pollination workhorses, they keep Bryce Canyon going without a lot of fanfare.

Bryce Canyon national Park in Utah has yet another small black bee, this could probably be said of any national Park but in this case it is Lasioglossum heterorhinum. Which has both a complicated and mellow name. Photographed by Brooke Alexander.

From Bryce Canyon National Park, comes one of the many many Lasioglossum that inhabit the continent. Often generalist pollination workhorses, they keep Bryce Canyon going without a lot of fanfare.

A common and rather plain sweat bee. Lasioglossum hitchensi. Decorated with pumpkin pollen...some of the largest pollen grains in the world. Collected by Laura Russo in Pennsylvania. Photo by Greta Forbes.

Lasioglossum incompletum. Last in the series from the badlands.

Fossil Butte National monument has this small black 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.

Male Lasioglossum can be tricky. Here is one of the dark ones from the highly bee productive Fossil Butte National Monument.

A pretty little Lasioglossum from the Dialictus group. This bee was collected in the San Juan Island national historic Park in Washington state. Photograph by Brooke Alexander. 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.

A pretty little Lasioglossum from the Dialictus group. This bee was collected in the San Juan Island national historic Park in Washington state. Photograph by Brooke Alexander. 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.

A pretty little Lasioglossum from the Dialictus group. This bee was collected in the San Juan Island national historic Park in Washington state. Photograph by Brooke Alexander. 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.