Images

Coelioxys sayi, female, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Odenton, Maryland

Coelioxys sayi, female, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Odenton, Maryland

Colletes aestivalis. Rare? or Not Rare? This is a Heuchera specialist. Heuchera is planted everywhere, why is the species not seen and seen by some as a potential species of concern. A few things pilgrim.

Rare. This bee (Colletes aestivalis) is rarely seen these days. I have never collected one despite it being recorded in Maryland in the far distant past. So it was nice to see this specimen from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia collected by Jessica Rykken in her studies of the Park's bee fauna. Good news.

Rare. This bee (Colletes aestivalis) is rarely seen these days. I have never collected one despite it being recorded in Maryland in the far distant past. So it was nice to see this specimen from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia collected by Jessica Rykken in her studies of the Park's bee fauna. Good news.

Colletes brevocornis, and uncommonly collected species, one that I associate with dry open areas, it is perhaps a specialist on Venus looking glass in the campanulae family. Difficult to say, since so few have been collected but that is our best guess at this time.

Colletes cariniger: one of the larger early spring species and also one of the more common species in its genus in Greece. The females seen commonly foraging for pollen in fields full of composites like chamomile, mayweed and ragwort. This one was collected by Jelle Devalez on the Aegean Islands. Photograph by Brooke Alexander.

Colletes compactus is a late fall Colletes, specializing on things like goldenrod. Colletes is an interesting group....different species coming out throughout the year and many of them highly specialized in what they gather pollen from. They perhaps are all specialists, but some are quite rare and so we know little (a common story).

Colletes compactus is a late fall Colletes, specializing on things like goldenrod. Colletes is an interesting group....different species coming out throughout the year and many of them highly specialized in what they gather pollen from. They perhaps are all specialists, but some are quite rare and so we know little (a common story).

Colletes compactus is a late fall Colletes, specializing on things like goldenrod. Colletes is an interesting group....different species coming out throughout the year and many of them highly specialized in what they gather pollen from. They perhaps are all specialists, but some are quite rare and so we know little (a common story).

An uncommon southern bee, many in this group of bees species feed their babies pollen only from certain plants. It is unclear if that is that case for this species...something for a good southerner to take up instead of playing Angry Birds all the time. Yet another magic bee collected by Sabrie Breland, southern bee magnet.

Ivy specialist... 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.

Colletes inaequalis, Prince George's County, MD

Colletes inaequalis, Prince George's County, MD

Colletes inaequalis, female, Prince George's County, Maryland

Another mid-summer Colletes from the central prairies. Note the "cute" face with the inner edges of the eyes converging towards the mouth. For some reason this automatically makes a bee cute compared to the standard bee face format that most species display.

Specialist: Colletes latitarsis, a lover of ground cherry,Physalis, a weedy plant, but a flowering one, and a native one, with its own set of the species that appear to only gather pollen and perhaps nectar from its flowers. This plant though is not uncommon, and occurs in many of the gardens.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

This bee collects pollen from the weedy, but native, Physalis or ground cherry plants. The flowers of this group are low and dangly and tend to be overlooked as does Colletes latitarsis. Likely more common than would appear as it rarely goes into traps and is hard to find unless hunted for directly. Joe Milone was the photographer.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.