Images

Sometimes male bees depart from the standard antennae shapes for some sort of new performance specs. No body seems to be studying why this might be, but there is substantive research on how incredible antennae can be at detecting just a few molecules.

West Virginia, Hardy County

Hoplitis truncata. An uncommon Hoplitis that shows up here and there, but never in large numbers. Not well known and its roll and preferences in the world of flowers is also unclear. This is a rather ratty male I collected somewhere near home...will have to keep my eyes open for additional specimens.

Richmond County, North Carolina

Houstonia longifolia, one of the bluets of the region. Tiny flowers have tiny bees going to them. Specimen and photographs by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Another set of shots of a masked bee from the Adirondack Mountains. This is a northerish bee...it extends south, but only along the Appalachians. Most of the females (as in this one) have a bit of yellow on the tip of the clypeus. Not uncommon, look for them on flat topped flowers such as Queen Anne's lace. The look is more wasp than bee however.

Another set of shots of a masked bee from the Adirondack Mountains. This is a northerish bee...it extends south, but only along the Appalachians. Most of the females (as in this one) have a bit of yellow on the tip of the clypeus. Not uncommon, look for them on flat topped flowers such as Queen Anne's lace. The look is more wasp than bee however.

The genus Hylaeus is referred to as the Masked Bee group. Most species have yellow vaguely mask-like yellow/white markings on their face. Not this one. It is distinctive in the absence of yellow. Looks like a wasp, does it not? This is because is carries its pollen and nectar loads internally and so the normal hairiness of most bees can be dispensed with.

Rattlesnake Master. What a lovely name for Eryngium yuccifolium. Not so common in the wild,but people are planting it regularly now and it usually yields a lovely show of bees on the blooms. Photo and plant by Helen Lowe Metzman.

A beautiful spring Eucera from Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Eucera are almost always buff bees. Photograph by Dejen Mengis. 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.

An uncommon spring Eucerine bee, in this case, from SE Ohio near the West Virginia border. Collected by MaLisa Spring and photographed by Brooke Alexander.

Previously seen on this Flickr site was the male of Eucera dubitata, now here is the female. The genus is a spring one and as you can see from its longggg tongue it has the equipment to harvest nectar and pollen from long corolla-ed flowers.

Some ratty specimens of Eucera dubitata from West Virginia. Photos by Kamren Jefferson.

A rather dirty western Eucera fulvitarsis from Fossil Butte National Monument. Nice combination of blacks and ochers. Hopefully we will get a better specimens at some point. Photo by Maggie Yuan.

One of the more uncommon to rare eastern bees in North America. Eucera fulvohirta is found in the arc of the continental coastal plain only from Louisiana to North Carolina. What plants does it feed on, what is its place in the natural history of the region. No one knows.

Very orange and fluffy he is. And very uncommonly found. This was a nice bee to see from Sabrie Breland's captures in old long-leaf pine forests in Southern Georgia. Fulvohirta indeed. Pictures taken by Sara Guerrieri.

Eucera rosae a rather uncommon spring bee in same group as the more abundant Melissodes species. This one came from the Saint Mary's City area of Southern Maryland collected by Elaine Szymkowiak.

Not all orchid bees are entirely metallic green. Here is one from a rather uncommon genus, collected, in interior Guyana rainforest that illustrates the beauty of combining black and metallics...

Glinting wonders from Biscayne National Park at the tip of Florida. Sadly, it its an introduced species, even if it is found in the Caribbean. Still, remarkable in its metallic blues and greens. Photograph by Sierra Williams shopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

Rattlesnake Plantain. Oh, look an orchid. An orchid that is not too uncommon in acidy woodlands. What a lovely leaf too. Picture and specimen by Helen Low Metzman.

A nymph of a short-horned grasshopper, not sure what species. Another experiment with a 10X microscope lens. Specimen from my yard in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.