Images

Anticarsia gemmatalis - Velvetbean Caterpillar - Soybean eater....this species can't overwinter in most of North America but moves north to populate bean and legume fields in large enough numbers to become a major pest, but like our other pesty moths...pretty sharp looking when you get to know them personally. Specimen provided by Benzon Research.

A pretty kick butt bee plant. Lots of action at about eye height. Who can ask for more....it even blooms for long periods of time. Even better for the bee watcher. Likes wet feet, but I have a nice one growing right in my sand and gravel soiled backyard that I planted. I think this plant is underutilized in bee meadow plantings.

Unknown Vespidae, Yellowstone National Park, Photoshopping done by Ann Simpkins

Here is the Common Blue Violet. State Agriculture Bulletins talk about "Controlling" this tough beauty. Native, rugged individualist, creator of ground cover with its own distinct specialist bee (Andrena viola) in its own genus. What's not to like here? Oh, that's right the, I forgot about the existence of lawn privilege ...

Here is the Common Blue Violet. State Agriculture Bulletins talk about "Controlling" this tough beauty. Native, rugged individualist, creator of ground cover with its own distinct specialist bee (Andrena viola) in its own genus. What's not to like here? Oh, that's right the, I forgot about the existence of lawn privilege ...

I believe this to be a wasp in the Genus Ectemnius, but I don't know for sure as I just am not a wasp expert. This one was collected in the Neck District of Talbot County Maryland a few weeks ago. Photo by Wayne Boo.

An unknown species of Wasp from the Dominican Republic, collected on a trip I took a couple of years ago. Photo by Kamren Jefferson, Photoshopping 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.

Unknown Species of Wasp, Bryce Canyon National Park

Unknown Species of Wasp, Bryce Canyon National Park

Seeds and various parts of Senna hebecarpa, American Senna. The details of plants blooms and other body parts have their own beauty. Pictures and specimens by Helen Lowe Metzman, Howard County, MD.

The hind paw of the Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevicauda, found by Liz Sellers, dead, at Banshee Reeks in Virgina. So very delicate. Photograph taken by Liz Sellers. 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.

Spodoptera eridania - Southern armyworm. A pest in southern parts of the U.S. mostly Florida. Defoliator of tomatoes and other crops. Not a candidate for the insect Miss Universe contest...or is is? I think close up there is a lot of beauty in this series of life history shots, but that is my personal opinion.

Reviled crop pest intrinsically valueless or eternal marvel of unworldly craft and resonance. 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.

Unknown Sphecidae Wasp, Anne Arundel County, Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, Maryland, July 2012

Headless Bee. This is the tiny Sphecodes antennariae. The smallest, I believe, Sphecodes in the MidAtlantic. The head fell off somewhere between selection for photographing and photographing. One slighly unusual feature of this nest parasite (likely of Lasioglossum) is that it only has 2 rather than 3 submarginal cells...most of the time.

More Sphecodes from the Adirondack Mountains of New York. There are many species of Sphecodes. They look remarkably the same. Females, like this one, inevitably have red butts and the rest about small sculptural differences.

Sphecodes davisii - Collected in the Adirondack Mountains as part of an expedition to the region in 2014. No Sphecodes gathers pollen. All Sphecodes are nest parasites. Laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Most are nest parasites of species in their family of Halictidae...but sometimes they dabble in other species.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is a good place for Svastra obliqua. This is the male which was quite common around their pollinator garden at their visitor's center. Nice to have mini-wildlife as well as macro-wildlife taken care of at a refuge.Pictures by Hannah Sutton and Ashleigh Jacobs, Photoshopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

North Carolina, Wake County, collected by Adrian L. Carper

ns, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200 USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.

Unknown Deer Fly form near Bowie Maryland