Images

In rough translation this would be the "Florida Masked Bee." Tiny, grain of rice things, and usually mistaken for wasps as they carry their pollen internally rather than in their body hairs like other bees. Thus they have reverted to the wasp shape from whence bees came.

New State Record for Maryland, April 2012 Collected on Willow blooms in Dorchester County....a very rarely collected bee east of the Mississippi. I don't know any recent records

Masked Bee from Dorchester County. An alien masked bee, Hylaeus leptocephalus to be exact. In Maryland (in this case, Cambridge, Maryland) it is almost completely restricted to the urban weedy lot and industrial tract. Railroad lines...the best. Photography by Amanda Robinson.

Larrini, Unknown species, Dorchester County, April 2012, MarylandLiris argentatus?

Bryce Canyon National Park....another of the multitudes of Lasioglossum species present in North America

Bryce Canyon National Park....another of the multitudes of Lasioglossum species present in North America. 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.

The glorious species richness and subtle complexity of a group of sweat bees. Lasioglossum abundipunctum (pictured here and collected in Fossil Butte, Wyoming) is one of what seems like an endless number of similar seeming bees. I have little doubt that on a per bee basis this group of bees dominates all other native bees, but to we ever really hear about them?

The glorious species richness and subtle complexity of a group of sweat bees. Lasioglossum abundipunctum (pictured here and collected in Fossil Butte, Wyoming) is one of what seems like an endless number of similar seeming bees. I have little doubt that on a per bee basis this group of bees dominates all other native bees, but to we ever really hear about them?

The glorious species richness and subtle complexity of a group of sweat bees. Lasioglossum abundipunctum (pictured here and collected in Fossil Butte, Wyoming) is one of what seems like an endless number of similar seeming bees. I have little doubt that on a per bee basis this group of bees dominates all other native bees, but to we ever really hear about them?

Cape Cod National Seashore....Lasioglossum accuminatum, one of the large black Lasioglossum speciesCanon 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, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Lasioglossum albipes, Polysocial Hairy-tongued Bee, specimen collected in FranceBecause of the very well known biology of Honey Bees some may believe that all bees have complex social lives. However, very few of the more than 20,000 species of bees discovered actually has a complex social life.

Lasioglossum birkmani, Big Thicket National Preserve

New Hampshire...The White Mountains...Mount Washington....at the very top is tundra a small remnant of what was more extensive in the cold post glacial times and still harbors arctic species like this Lasioglossum boreale. At this point this is the only location that has had this species in New England.

Yet another unknown jumping spider from Upper Marlboro, jumping spiders are so personable and downright cute at this scaleCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

Unknown Jumping spider, August 2012, Beltsville, Maryland, Benjamin A Coulter helped narrow this down to perhaps an immature Thiodina sylvana

The Endangered Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis

The Endangered Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis

A Deep South bee I associate with piney woods on the coastal plain. Rather Herc for a Lasioglossum, but the shade of blue and the dark orangish legs help direct you towards the identification of this species. this one from mysterious and rich in odd bees Cumberland Island, Georgia. Photoshopping by Thistle Droege and Photograph by Lisa Murray.

Ladybird pupa, White Oak leaf, Beltsville, Maryland, August 2012, determination by speech path girl

A relatively new invader to North America. Unlike most of the other invasive bees, this is a ground nester, most of the others nest in holes and likely come over as nest stowaways in shipping containers and dunnage.

Unknown Haltichellinae Wasp, Hawaii, Oahu, March 2012, Determined by Michael Gates