Images

A small thin well armored bee. Just so to fit in the abandoned burrows of powder post beetles and the like. Obliquely related to Mason bees, the females carry pollen and are notable for their use of plant resins to plug their nest holes. This one from Prince George's County. Photograph by Elizabeth Garcia.

A small thin well armored bee. Just so to fit in the abandoned burrows of powder post beetles and the like. Obliquely related to Mason bees, the females carry pollen and are notable for their use of plant resins to plug their nest holes. This one from Prince George's County. Photograph by Elizabeth Garcia.

A tiny be, this one found in the flat marshy landscape of Dorchester County, Maryland. There is a pair of the species Heriades leavitti and Heriades variolosa both appear to be essentially impossible to tell apart in the female form, but in the mail form there very clear differences underneath the abdomen.

Heriades variolosa or leavitti, female, Kent County, Maryland

New state record, collected by Jelle Devalez in a sand pit in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Nearest other record is in Illinois!

Here is a series of 6 shots of Hylaeus verticalis, 3 male, 3 female. A northern and mountain bee throughout North America. One of a bunch of different Masked Bees that lurk around the continent. Photos by Sue Boo and Brooke Alexander.

From Isle Royale National Park in Michigan... Hylaeus verticalis. So many bee species to document....Photography by Sara Guerrieri. 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.

Hylaeus volatilis - A native species of Hawaiian bee found at mid elevations on East Maui. This species is particularly interesting in that it is a nest parasite of other native Hylaeus species

Fire Island National Seashore, New York

Ichneumonidae; Pimplinae, Fire Island National Seashore, New York

As happens rarely in bees, this bee exhibits both characters of males and females, with bilateral asymmetry. Found by MaLisa Spring in Marietta, Ohio as part of her studies of the bees or the region, which in addition to this species discovered several new state records and rare bees.

One of our native Iris'. This is the Harlequin Blueflag (Iris versicolor), a reasonably widespread inhabitant of mucky freshwater marsh edges. Specimen and photograph from Helen Lowe Metzman.

Ischnura posita, August 2012, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Determination by Richard Orr

Ischnura posita, August 2012, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Bottomland Back pool, Determination by Richard Orr

Lasioglossum forbesii - A relatively uncommon sweat bee from near Front Royal, Virginia at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

One of the tricky clade of a small black bees that occur throughout the West. In this case the species of Lasioglossum glabriventre was found at fossil Butte national Monument. You should visit because it is rich in bees and apparently fossils to. Picture taken by Sue Boo.

Lasioglossum gotham is a small sweat bee, that I find mostly in the early spring, mostly in Woodlands and I suspect it is very much keyed in to nesting in upturned root masses of trees in those woodlands.

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.

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.

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.

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