Images

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This is a wee little male bee in the genus Osmia (O. pumila). It is perhaps the smallest Osmia in the East and perfect for a full facial shot with the 10X lens set up. Still need to work on lighting issues, mabye more diffusers around specimen, but things are moving in the right direction with reasonably good definition of hairs and eye omatidia.

We have already added the male of this species. As the name implies this species is rufous in its hairs. Check the hairs filled with pollen underneath the abdomen. Collected by Jelle Devalez in the Aegean Islands of Greece. Photography by Brooke Alexander.

We have already added the male of this species. As the name implies this species is rufous in its hairs. Check the hairs filled with pollen underneath the abdomen. Collected by Jelle Devalez in the Aegean Islands of Greece. Photography by Brooke Alexander.

We have already added the male of this species. As the name implies this species is rufous in its hairs. Check the hairs filled with pollen underneath the abdomen. Collected by Jelle Devalez in the Aegean Islands of Greece. Photography by Brooke Alexander.

Osmia rufohirta - An Osmia from the Grecian Isles that nests in snail shells. Not this specimen as it is a male and does essentially nothing but mate. Lots of reddish hairs on this species as the name implies. Specimen collected by Jelle Devalez.

Osmia rufohirta - An Osmia from the Grecian Isles that nests in snail shells. Not this specimen as it is a male and does essentially nothing but mate. Lots of reddish hairs on this species as the name implies. Specimen collected by Jelle Devalez.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Another sand loving bee from Cumberland Island, Georgia. Distributed throughout the Southeast. Thistle Droege is the photoshopper and Kamren Jefferson the photographer.

A somewhat big and somewhat northern Osmia. One of the frustrating things about bees is that entire groups look about the same, such is Osmia.

Acadia National Park brings you a common northern Osmia (Osmia simillima)....large and with oddly shortened and modified front legs, which must be important for something. Picture by Sierra Williams, shopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

A somewhat big and somewhat northern Osmia. One of the frustrating things about bees is that entire groups look about the same, such is Osmia.

An Osmia...one of the group of western species that are bright shiny green instead of the more common dark metallic blue. This one was found in a bee garden in San Francisco under study by Jaime Pawelek. Am pinging Jaime to see if she knows what species this could be.

An Osmia...one of the group of western species that are bright shiny green instead of the more common dark metallic blue. This one was found in a bee garden in San Francisco under study by Jaime Pawelek. Am pinging Jaime to see if she knows what species this could be.

An Osmia...one of the group of western species that are bright shiny green instead of the more common dark metallic blue. This one was found in a bee garden in San Francisco under study by Jaime Pawelek. Am pinging Jaime to see if she knows what species this could be.

Within regions of conflict the opinionless great wheel of Nature silently continues. From the West Bank comes a snail shell nesting Osmia loaded with pollen, sometimes included in its own Palaearctic genus Hoplosmia and sometimes...not.

Terrible specimen, but the only specimen on hand for Osmia subarctica. A male with distinctive upturned gonostyli on its genitalia....as we all kinow..!

Terrible specimen, but the only specimen on hand for Osmia subarctica. A male with distinctive upturned gonostyli on its genitalia....as we all kinow..!