Images

Andrena Illini. Named after the University of Illinois football team by Wally LaBerge. While he was one of the great taxonomy experts that we recently lost. He was a specialist in Andrena and Melissodes and dabbled in several other genera of bees.

Andrena illini, female

Andrena illinoiensis, South Dakota, Badlands National Park,

Andrena illinoiensis, South Dakota, Badlands National Park,

Andrena lupinorum, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Pennington County

Andrena mariae, female

Andrena merriami, female Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Andrena merriami, South Dakota, Badlands National Park

A couple of so so pictures of Andrena milwaukeensis. Check out the tiny dark hairs in the facial fovea.. Photo by Dejen Mengis

Pachyanthidium species, Sawtooth Sputnik Bee, collected in KenyaAnother striking Sputnik Bee from Africa. This group of bees, and the Anthidiini tribe it nestles in taxonomically, are almost all characteristically striped and spotted with bright yellow, white, and red colors on a wide body, usually also with serious amounts of pitting cratering their exoskeleton.

Perilla frutescens, or Beefsteak Plant, a much hated invasive plant, but does have the virtue of both being edible and having lovely remnant seeds pods even after a long winter. Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Lighting Experiment: Agroiconota bivittata - Another tortoise beetle, this one from a glycol trap collected by Brooke Alexander and photographed by Amber Reese, in this case the trick was to increase the lighting on the lower edge, what worked was laying a portion of styrofoam cup slit lengthwise ala butternut squash which nicely reflect the bounced flash back up o

Clerid Beetle, Enoclerus ichneumoneus, Prince George's County, Maryland

Yet another Tortoise Beetle, in this case one with a common name, the Mottled Tortoise Beetle, Deloyala guttata, a feeder on Morning Glory vines, in this case likely a feeder on Sweet Potato Vines (which are nothing but morning glory roots) collected by Brooke Alexander and picture taken by Amber Reese

A deep dimensional ethereal midnight blue, this picture only partially portraits the subtle beauty of this beetle captured on a flower during our study of pollinator webs in the Badlands

Experimental shot - Here is a beetle from by-catch from Badlands National Park. The beetle is placed on a piece of glass and stack shot using our usual set up but with black felt on the rear of the glass to minimize the gray color that seems to come from light refracting in the glass behind the specimen.

Periodically, I take pictures of things other than bees that cross my path. Here, is a small beetle, collected a few weeks ago at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. Its very small, taken at 10X and that's about all I can tell you other than it likely was collected on flowers along with bees.

This is a tachinid fly in the genus Belvosia. I caught while bee hunting and used it in this particular picture to test out a new 10X picture rig I have set up at home. Nice enough, but think I need to play around with the lighting to extract a little more contrast and 3 dimensionality.

Beggar's-Ticks of the Nodding variety. Showy, and, at times, filling ditches in low areas of Maryland. One of the native plants that seems to be happy with disturbed environments and they come with barbed seeds that stick to the coats of animals and the coats of people with equal vigor. Lots of yellow in the fall...beautiful.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.