Images

Pseudoplusia includens, Bowie, Maryland

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, 2011

May or may not be a parasitic wasp, could be an aculeate, Dominican Republic, photographed floating in hand sanitizer in a quartz cuvette. Roger Burks via Doug Yanega identified this as Psilochalcis

Putting up the last 2 in the sieres of this species.Pterocheilus quinquefasciatus. - Hunter of caterpillars...in this case, hunter of caterpillars in South Dakota Badlands.

Putting up the last 2 in the sieres of this species.Pterocheilus quinquefasciatus. - Hunter of caterpillars...in this case, hunter of caterpillars in South Dakota Badlands.

Pterocheilus quinquefasciatus. - Hunter of caterpillars...in this case, hunter of caterpillars in South Dakota Badlands. This wasp has long stiff hairs on the palps of its tongue and it uses them like a basket...carrying dirt of its nest and away from the nest entrance so it is harder for parasitoids to track its babies locations.

Pterostichus permundus - A new Carabid Beetle for the State of Maryland. Captured at Cove Point at the tip of Calvert County Maryland by Brent Steury as part of his survey of the beetles of the site. For those of you who care, the leg shot is included showing the 4 tiny setae that separate this species from its sister taxa.

I have nicknamed this bee (Ptilothrix bombiformis) the refuge bee because it is found so often on National Wildlife Refuges. Why? Well this species is a hibiscus specialist and refuges are full of impoundments and those impoundments often have fresh water hibiscus plants in them.

If you were to plant one plant for watching bees in your garden it would be this one Pycnathemum muticum (Mountain Mint). If forms clumps about 2 feet tall, with a uniform spread of continuous blooms. So many wasps and bees come its absolutely fabulous.

null

On a recent trip to York University to take pictures of bees from around the world. I was returning to his lab after a coffee field trip and was struck by the beautiful lines of some fresh red oak acorns.

Experimental Shot. One of the problems with macro photography is that sometimes your subject is too big. In this case this lovely very large scarab beetle would not fit in the field of view of my MPE65. I could switch to a 100mm lens but I would then lose a lot of lovely detail.

Acer rubrum, young forming samara, Beltsville, Maryland April 2013

Red maple, whole

Rediviva species, Black Daddy Longlegs Oil Bee, collected in South Africa We showed the male already...here is the female.What fantastically cool bees! These bees have extremely long front legs that they use to collect oil from plants, using the oil instead of nectar as food for the larvae. At the end of their legs are sponge-like patches of hairs.

Rediviva species, Black Daddy Longlegs Oil Bee, collected in South Africa We showed the male already...here is the female.What fantastically cool bees! These bees have extremely long front legs that they use to collect oil from plants, using the oil instead of nectar as food for the larvae. At the end of their legs are sponge-like patches of hairs.

Rhinocyllus conicus, the Eurasian flower head weevil, infests flower heads of Pitcher's thistle at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Its presence was first discovered in 2012. The weevil is a biocontrol agent for musk thistle, Carduus nutans. Picture by Wayne Boo.

Mile-a-minute weevil, Rhinoncomimus latipes, this weevil has been brought into North America to contol Polygonum perfoliatum, the mile-a-minute weed. Bob Trumble from Maryland's Department of Agriculture dropped off a few of these minute (about 1.5mm) babies and we photographed them using out 10x lens set up.

Great Smoky Mountains National ParkDoug Yanega has identified this as one of the wedge-shaped beetles in the Genus Ripiphorus. Several people have suggested that this be given the common name the Andy Rooney Beetle.

A Series: This is a set of slate gorgets and fragments there of. This fragment was found along the banks of the Patuxent River in Maryland but the slate is from Central Ohio. Other artifacts indicate that this site had been used for thousands of years as a ritual site by Adena culture Indians with numerous items brought in from Ohio (imagine that!).

A Series: This is a set of slate gorgets and fragments there of. This fragment was found along the banks of the Patuxent River in Maryland but the slate is from Central Ohio. Other artifacts indicate that this site had been used for thousands of years as a ritual site by Adena culture Indians with numerous items brought in from Ohio (imagine that!).