Images

Captured in Southeast Virginia by students at Old Dominion University. Note that this specimens conforms to more interior specimens but has much less extensive presence of dark hairs on the Mesepisternum.

There are many species of Melissodes and as you can see from this male, they aren't called Long-horn Bees for nothing. All or almost all of these species are summer to fall bees and most are fond to very fond of flowers in the Asteraceae family ... the fall composites by other names.

Darn it. As I was loading this picture I realized that we already had a picture of this very same uncommon specimen...That said, I like this shot better, additionally Wayne Boo, the photographer in this case did not cut the edge of the wing off as in the other one.

Megachile lanata, female, GTMO, Cuba, A species originally from Africa, but now present in many of the tropical parts of the world

A sharp looking Megachile from Yosemite National Park. Megachile melanophaea is a bee that runs all across the arctic, the northern parts of the East and down the mountains in the West. Unlike many northern species is does not seem to be interested in the Appalachians.

Here is a bee from Acadia National Park in Hancock County Maine. The park is one of the few places that has information about its historic bee populations., Resulting in one of the very very few instances of a historic record of any kind of bee populations in North America. An Illustration of How Poorly Known the bee fauna of the continent is currently.

Megachile melanopyga: This species has two generations in a year, with the 2nd generation being very abundant on autumn asters. Collected by the fabulous Jelle Devalez on the mysterious Lesvos Island in Greece. Photo taken by Sara Guerrieri.

Leaf-cutter. The most common leaf-cutter in most of Eastern North America. It carries pollen on the underside of its abdomen and those hairs are distinctly tinged with orange, something found in only a few other eastern Megachile. Photograph by Amanda Robinson.

Leaf-cutter. The most common leaf-cutter in most of Eastern North America. It carries pollen on the underside of its abdomen and those hairs are distinctly tinged with orange, something found in only a few other eastern Megachile. Photograph by Amanda Robinson.

The most common eastern native Megachile, Megachile mendica. In this case a male, oft confused with M. brevis. Photography by Amanda Robinson.

The male of Megachile mucida, this is one of the leafcutter bees, here even the male has a massive mandible, though it does not involve itself in making or tending nests....note the forelegs which are tucked under the front of the bee, these are widened greatly and are used to cover the eyes of the female when mating.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blount County

A large hole nesting leaf cutter. This is a male Megachile pugnata (subspecies pomona) from Yosemite. Check out the greatly expanded pale segments of the front legs. These are used in mating and lain over the females eyes. People make up all sorts of stories with that information, but we really don't know that details about why that is a useful feature.

The magnificent mandibled Megachile pugnata. Look how long and wide those mandibles are. Its not clear to me why this species requires much longer mandibles than others, it appears to not be cutting out larger pieces of leaves for its nests, but perhaps it is the type, processing and location of the leaf material that is important.

The magnificent mandibled Megachile pugnata. Look how long and wide those mandibles are. Its not clear to me why this species requires much longer mandibles than others, it appears to not be cutting out larger pieces of leaves for its nests, but perhaps it is the type, processing and location of the leaf material that is important.

Megachile relativa. Pretty ubiquitous in North America though it appears to be absent from most of the Midwest. The orange pollen carrying hairs on the underside of the abdomen narrow things down in terms of the various Megachile species, bug there are a few species that look very similar....particularly the introduced Megachile centuncularis.

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Unknown Megachile species from the Dominican Republic

Found in Urban Baltimore, Armistead Gardens