Images

In North America this genus are primarily cactus pollen specialists. Since this one was captured in the sandhills of North Carolina by Heather Campbell it is undoubtedly covered in Prickly Pear cactus pollen.

In North America this genus are primarily cactus pollen specialists. Since this one was captured in the sandhills of North Carolina by Heather Campbell it is undoubtedly covered in Prickly Pear cactus pollen.

Lithurgus tibialis: a fascinating species in that it is much smaller and looks quiet different from other Lithurgus species occurring in Europe and has the peculiar preference for flowers of Chrozophora, a quite unusual pollen source.., but from studies in Greece it is clear that the females almost solely visit this plant and collect its pollen.

Lithurgus tibialis: a fascinating species in that it is much smaller and looks quiet different from other Lithurgus species occurring in Europe and has the peculiar preference for flowers of Chrozophora, a quite unusual pollen source.., but from studies in Greece it is clear that the females almost solely visit this plant and collect its pollen.

Ah, the lovely wild hummingbird attracting Cardinal Flower. Nice to have bright red emerging from the wetlands every once in a while. Photograph and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Megachile deceptrix, male, Dominican Republic, Hispaniola

Megachile exilis - Megs are most famous for being leaf cutters, but some are not (leaf cutters that is). M.

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.