Images

One of the common spring Osmia, this specimen came from bowl traps right at the lab...unlike other specimens it was processed right away and the luminescence of the eyes of this particular specimen retained at least some of the flavor of what they look like when alive.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flas

Osmia, as members of the family Megachilidae often use their jaws in the formation of nests ... collecting plant material or mud and such uses create some wicked cool structures, here are the big jaws of an Osmia from Kyrgystan. This specimen was taken upside down and then inverted to get a bit more dramatic lighting on the lower part of the face.

Here is a series of male and female western glinting Osmia. There is a whole clade of Osmia that have thrust aside the drab dark colors of their Osmini kin for fresh look of maximum iridescence. That iridescence trends across greens and blues and purples with males often more on the green side.

Here is a series of male and female western glinting Osmia. There is a whole clade of Osmia that have thrust aside the drab dark colors of their Osmini kin for fresh look of maximum iridescence. That iridescence trends across greens and blues and purples with males often more on the green side.

Check out the midnight blue on the female. Your Prius should look so good. Female photos by Wayne Boo. 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.

Check out the midnight blue on the female. Your Prius should look so good. Female photos by Wayne Boo. 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.

Ah the glow in the dark Mason bees of the West. Very jealous...we don't have this model of Osmia out east. For some reason bright green works for a whole passel of Osmia and the related Hoplitis. Funny how this blingy green/blue/purple invades certain genera of bees and is completely absent from others. What is the driver. I like to think it is bee aesthetics.

Ah the glow in the dark Mason bees of the West. Very jealous...we don't have this model of Osmia out east. For some reason bright green works for a whole passel of Osmia and the related Hoplitis. Funny how this blingy green/blue/purple invades certain genera of bees and is completely absent from others. What is the driver. I like to think it is bee aesthetics.

Ah the glow in the dark Mason bees of the West. Very jealous...we don't have this model of Osmia out east. For some reason bright green works for a whole passel of Osmia and the related Hoplitis. Funny how this blingy green/blue/purple invades certain genera of bees and is completely absent from others. What is the driver. I like to think it is bee aesthetics.

This beautiful blue bee nests in snail shells. I am not sure if there are other species in the East that nest in snail shells, there could be...we know so very little about most species. Collected in Maryland somewhere (probably western Maryland) and Photographed by Wayne Boo.

An alien species introduced from the island of Japan in the 1980s. This and its sister the same region are now the dominant Osmia species in the mid-Atlantic area. 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.

From the mountains of western Maryland comes Osmia distincta...lover of Penstemon flowers. Photoshopping by Thistle Droege.

Osmia georgica. A relatively regular, but not overly abundant hole nesting Osmia. While small it is notable for have what looks like growths on its mandibles, making them quite distinctive. These elevations are probably used to help carry mud to the nests while forming partitions between their cells. Photography by Ashleigh Jacobs.

Osmia grindeliae is a widespread western mason bee. It just barely squeaks into Canada and no records as of yet in Mexico. This female was found in Yosemite National Park and collected for a project done by Lauren Ponisio examining the effect of fire diversity on bees (Ponisio et al. Gloebal Change Biol. 2016). Photograph by Samia Shell.

Range Jumper. This range jumper jumped from Illinois to Virginia. There are no records in between. How odd....this is a rare bee in its limited range in the Midwest and to find it all the way in the Mountains of Virginia seems near fantastical, but there it is and more than one specimen too.

A bee I often associate with Sandy areas...this one captured on Cape Cod National Seashore as part of comparative studies of dune loving bees.

This bee is part of a taxonomic mystery spanning the continent. It turns out that the male of this species is very likely named as O. trevoris, by a long ago taxonomist., All specimens were thought to be limited to the West, but....there were these strange Osmia around the Great Lakes that were sometimes called (incorrectly it now seems) O.

This bee is part of a taxonomic mystery spanning the continent. It turns out that the male of this species is very likely named as O. trevoris, by a long ago taxonomist., All specimens were thought to be limited to the West, but....there were these strange Osmia around the Great Lakes that were sometimes called (incorrectly it now seems) O.

Taxonomy and Discovery. One would expect based on what we know about things like plants and birds, that we would largely have figured out what species of bees exist in the Eastern United States...Not so, still much to do for the students of bees.

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