Images

From Bryce Canyon National Park, comes one of the many many Lasioglossum that inhabit the continent. Often generalist pollination workhorses, they keep Bryce Canyon going without a lot of fanfare.

A common and rather plain sweat bee. Lasioglossum hitchensi. Decorated with pumpkin pollen...some of the largest pollen grains in the world. Collected by Laura Russo in Pennsylvania. Photo by Greta Forbes.

Lasioglossum incompletum. Last in the series from the badlands.

A common little bee of the Badlands. Lasioglossum incompletum is at the eastern edge of its range here at the Badlands. No one really realizes that the world is dominated by small bees. So much for bumble bees. Picture by Anders Croft.

Male Lasioglossum can be tricky. Here is one of the dark ones from the highly bee productive Fossil Butte National Monument.

A pretty little Lasioglossum from the Dialictus group. This bee was collected in the San Juan Island national historic Park in Washington state. 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.

Lasioglossum leucozonium, female

Lasioglossum brunneiventre. Small, long head, found in the Mojave National Preserve in studies of sandy areas in National Parks. Photographs by Brooke Alexander.

The Channel Islands lie off the southern coast of California and contain quite a few endemic plants and animals. Here is a bee species that falls in that category and was collected as part of an effort to survey the climatically vulnerable National Parks. Photography by Ashleigh Jacobs.

Such a lovely blue and relatively unusual in the Genus Lasioglossum. At least in the East there is no other Lasioglossum so extensively and uniformly blue. So blue that it is often mistaken for an Osmia. This species is associated with woodlands, feeding on the vernal flora of the woods and nearby fields and nesting in rotten wood.

Lake Michigan has dunes and in those dunes are all sorts of rare and uncommon things including bees. This picture come from Indiana Dune National Lakeshore. It is not of a rare bee, but a very common one Lasioglossum coriaceum. You can search up some of the rare ones.

Lasioglossum creberrimum, Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas

Collected by Noel Pavlovic who provides these tidbits. Larinus planus, a biocontrol weevil, for Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) that is infesting the federally threatened Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri).

Collected by Noel Pavlovic who provides these tidbits. Larinus planus, a biocontrol weevil, for Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) that is infesting the federally threatened Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri).

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

6 views of Lasioglossum species which from the sandy areas of Humboldt County, in Redwoods National Park. An Unknown but interesting species, it will have to wait for someone to come along who knows more that we do. Picture by Amanda Robinson.

6 views of Lasioglossum species which from the sandy areas of Humboldt County, in Redwoods National Park. VAn Unknown but interesting species, it will have to wait for someone to come along who knows more that we do. Picture by Amanda Robinson.

Denny Johnson from Eau Claire County in Wisconsin provided this specimen. Another Lasioglossum and one that was until recently cleared up by Jason Gibbs involved in thousands of misidentifications...many by myself.

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.

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.

Jumping Spider, Salticidae, Grabbed this one from a batch of National Park specimens of bees. Likely this came from Fossil Butte National Monument. Floated in hand sanitizer, this time Ben moved specimen so that most of the hairs stayed behind, also positioned specimen high in cuvette to get more of a black look