Images

Fort Mantanzas has more cool bees to share with use from a tiny coastal monument run by the park service along the upper coast of Florida. This time more junior bees in the genus Perdita. Photography by Sierra Williams, photoshopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

New Vermont Species Record. This little tiny bee is a specialist on a plant that most people pull out of their gardens, Physalis, or Ground Cherry, this plant has a number of specialists associated with it and, we should think about it as something to plant in our gardens!

New Vermont Species Record. This little tiny bee is a specialist on a plant that most people pull out of their gardens, Physalis, or Ground Cherry, this plant has a number of specialists associated with it and, we should think about it as something to plant in our gardens!

A tiny sand loving Perdita from Maryland

A tiny sand loving Perdita from Maryland

Here is a series of male and female western glinting Osmia. There is a whole clade of Osmia that have thrust aside the drab dark colors of their Osmini kin for fresh look of maximum iridescence. That iridescence trends across greens and blues and purples with males often more on the green side.

Check out the midnight blue on the female. Your Prius should look so good. Female photos by Wayne Boo. 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.

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

More Osmia conjucta pictures...in this case it is a male. See the previous posts regarding the female and a tidbit of life history info for this species.

Osmia felti. A big Mason Bee with black pollen carrying hairs. In the world of all animals are few are very very common and many are very uncommon and some are rare. Here is a rare one that pops up now and again in the North East / North Central sections of North America, but only a handful of times.

Osmia georgica. A relatively regular, but not overly abundant hole nesting Osmia. While small it is notable for have what looks like growths on its mandibles, making them quite distinctive. These elevations are probably used to help carry mud to the nests while forming partitions between their cells. Photography by Ashleigh Jacobs.

An eastern Osmia....this is Osmia georgica. Noted for the large projecting horns on its mandibles that likely help the female carry mud to her nest to make partitions. A hole nester that will take up residence in holes you drill in your front porch posts like I do. Photos by Ashleigh Jacobs.

The oft times difficult to id male of the not so hard to id female Osmia georgica. Sometimes bees are inconvenient to work with. Picture by Amanda Robinson. 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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A wee 2mm Perilampid from Hart-Miller Island collected by Gene Scarpulla and awaiting final determination.

The June Bug, whose babies are some of the white grubs you with you wouldn't find in your garden, but at least they are native and you should really share your world.....

Dragonette. My competitor. AKA the Jagged Ambush Bug. These flower dragons tuck into flowers and jump on the bees (an other insects) that I study, injects them, liquefies their insides, and sucks them out, just like some people do emotionally to others. Rugged.

If you are a bumble bee (how fascinating if you were...) this fly would be your worst nightmare. You be flying along, warmed by the sun as you joyfully gathered pollen and nectar from flowers, then Wham, this fly, about half your size, would latch onto you and with the tip of its abdomen force itself between your abdominal segments and insert its egg.

Rhynchomitra microrhina, the lovely and colorful front end of the this lovely and colorful long-nosed Dictyopharid planthopper. It appears to feed on grasses and joins the huge world of native plant driven biodiversity. Can you buy a Rhynchomitramicrorhina at the big box store?

The classic Blue Orchard Bee, that many gardeners make nests for by drilling blocks of wood or buying little houses or straws. All well and good except for the fact that 2 recent Asian Osmia species are now starting to dominate populations in both urban and rural areas. O. taurus and O. cornifrons.

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