Images

One of the resin collecting bees, they are in the leaf-cutting bee genus, but separate their walls with resin rather than leaves. They love it if you drill holes in your porch posts (personal observation). This Megachile exilis males has some expanded front leg segments that help in its id...how nice. Collected in Talbot County, Maryland.

There are many Megachile in the world here is one captured in western Maryland and photographed by Heagan Ahmed. Photoshopping by Elizabeth Gardia. For some reason the species seems to be showing up more and more in Eastern North American collections.

Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .pdf of our set up is located in our profile

Leafcutting bees are normally bright white sorts of things in North America...hoewever, there are a few such as this Megachile gemula that are dark, not in a psychological way, but in that their pollen carrying hairs are black instead of white and much their pale hairs bleed from off-white to yellowish.

A lover of yellow composites. Sunflowers and things that look like sunflowers. Megachile inimica is a big leaf cutter, quite hunky really, a bee's bee. This is a male and was collected at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland.

Anne Arundel County, Megachile inimica, From a Sand Pit along the Patuxent River

Anne Arundel County, Megachile inimica, From a Sand Pit along the Patuxent River

Megachile integra is one of a small clade of Megachile and Trachusa that need small viney things in the pea family (fuzzy beans and milk peas) to feed their babies.

Megachile latimanus, face

Another Macropis from transmission lines from NH and MA. This species (M. nuda) is also a Lysimachia specialist and the female's bright white pollen carrying hairs and likely the hairs under the abdomen soak up oils which are used by the female to add to pollen to create the food for their young. Collected by Michael Veit and part of a study run by David Wagner.

Another Macropis from transmission lines from NH and MA. This species (M. nuda) is also a Lysimachia specialist and the female's bright white pollen carrying hairs and likely the hairs under the abdomen soak up oils which are used by the female to add to pollen to create the food for their young. Collected by Michael Veit and part of a study run by David Wagner.

Arizona, Petrified Forest National Park, Apache County

Late breaking new...this was identified by Don Harvey as Macrotera portalis (formerly in Perdita...now its own genus)Bee with Big Head. This is a Perdita...a male collected in Cochise County Arizona by Tim McMahon. Why such a big head. Unclear because sometimes in the same species have small heads.

I am spacing at the moment as to who lent me these species, but hopefully can track that down and correct the record. Such a lovely odd bee. It forages a dawn in the deserts of the Southwest, is big, lush and lovely. One of only 3 species. This one caught in Wilcox, AZ...probably at the Bee Course. Photographed by Dejen Mengis.

Medeola virginiana - Indian cucumber root. Yes, the root is edible and yummy. Specimen and photo by Helen Lowe Metzman. 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.

Megachile albisecta: An European summer species found on knapweed and thistles. A beautiful and large species. Collected by Jelle Devalez in the Aegean Island of Lesvos, Greece. 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.

Megachile albisecta: An European summer species found on knapweed and thistles. A beautiful and large species. Collected by Jelle Devalez in the Aegean Island of Lesvos, Greece. 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.

I recently spent some time at a family reunion in South Central Texas and, of course, brought my net. Here is Megachile albitarsis, a large ground nesting Meg with its lovely amber red eyes and orange pollen carrying hairs.

Carrying on from the recent posts of Lithurgus chrysurus, here is another European bee that specializes on Knapweed. This specimen from the West Coast, but it occurs throughout North America. Photo by Anders Croft. This bee was collected in the California Central Valley in Yolo County for research on small-scale restoration in agricultural areas.

Megachile apicalis - Invasive species: Specialist on knapweeds: Not common unless you haunt industrial and other wastelands where it can be common. Always carry a net in these areas so that you clearly as seen as a harmless nature nut. Collected in Cumberland, Maryland. Picture by Heagan Ahmed and photoshopped by Elizabeth Garcia.

From Alleghany County in western Maryland in the town of Cumberland down along the Railroad tracks, which is a go to collecting spot for me, since there are almost always tall weeds with bees on them. One wishes that other people did the same things with native meadow plants along roads and yards instead of just mowing them to pieces all the time.