Images

From Kenya comes one of the many flavors of Megachile...or leaf cutting bees, though this species likely does not cut leaves as you can see from the lack of cutting edges on its mandibles, more likely its paddle like mandibles are made for moving mud around.

The complicated underside of Coelioxys modesta. Do you really relate to something so radically different from yourself? We have very little morphologically in common with Mr. C. modesta but we do share the planet. Photography by Heagan Ahmed. Shopping by Wayne Boo.

Danaus plexippus. The Monarch Butterfly. Maryland.

One of the most common bees in the East...if only we could figure out how to identify it more easily. Here we have Lasioglossum trigeminum. Fits right in with A. admirandum, A. versatum, and A. callidum and I often struggle with dark second thoughts about the specimens Id, because of all the overlap.

Nymphs, Harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica, a common pest of brassicas, these were raised by the Weber USDA lab at Beltsville, Maryland

Eggs, Harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica, a common pest of brassicas, these were raised by the Weber USDA lab at Beltsville, Maryland

Mutillid Wasp, Male Velvet Ant, Prince George's County, Maryland

The eastern subspecies of the Yellow-rumped warbler, Setophaga coronata. This bird ran into a building at night while it was migrating and was picked up by the Lights out DC group.

Unknown moth collected July 24 2013 part of national moth week, with unknown "thing" growing out of or attached to its eye. I will have another picture of this species up tomorrow, but the thing attached to its eye is something I have never seen...any thoughts?

Ah, here is a good story, this is a shot of a female Nomada found at the museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. I have visited their museum many times, but only this last time did I find a synoptic collection of bees from New England that was separate from the rest of their large, lovely, and old collection of bees.

OK, it took me a while to figure out what this is....any guesses?

An interesting bee from Florida. Collected by Anthony Abbate. Not much is know about this species, it shows up in collections not very commonly and has western counterparts which may, or may not, be the same species. So much to do!

As you can see from the tattered edges of the wings...this is an old bee, meaning it has been out and about for about 5 weeks. This is also a male, one could count the antennal segments (13 in males, 12 in females) but you can also tell by the greatly expanded white front legs, these are used to cover the females eyes during mating....

Megachile campanulae, male, Kent County, Maryland, June 2012

Megachile furgalis, female, Western Maryland, July 2012

Megachile lanata, male, Hawaii, Oahu, represents a new species for the islands in the Pacific, originally from Africa, now widespread in the Caribbean, March 2012

Megachile rotundata, male, Maryland 2012

What an interesting species. Instead of flying during the day, this species flies just before dawn and just after dusk, times where we have difficulty seeing. This species, however, forages on crepuscular and night fowering flowers, more often associated with bats and moths. Note the large eyes and ocelli.

Meganomia binghami, Bingham 's Giant, collected in South Africa by Bryan DanforthMales of many species of bee have various modifications that are not found in the females and are presumably sexually selected "“ they arose because the females preferred males with, rather than those without, these strange features.

Melanempis scoliiformis, Bottle Green Madagascan Cuckoo, specimen collected in MadagascarAlmost all of the bees native to the large and geographically isolated island of Madagascar are endemic (as are most of the flora and the rest of the fauna for that matter), occurring only on that Island and not on the mainland of Africa.

Queen Anne County, Maryland, A lovely Tiphiid Wasp from Chino Farm