Images

Nacogodoches County, texas, Big Thicket National Preserve

From one of the coastal National Parks in St. John's County in Florida comes a lovely red-legged Lasioglossum tarponense. I think of this species as a sand specialist...living in the Florida scrubby sand coastal pine matrix that forms an important part of the natural matrix of the region behind the sand dunes.

Joan Milam collected this particular Lasioglossum. Darn if it doesn't look like all the rest of them. Photography 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.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected by Stephanie Wilson at the Morris Arboretum

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected by Stephanie Wilson at the Morris Arboretum

Joan Milam collected this particular Lasioglossum. Darn if it doesn't look like all the rest of them. Photography 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.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, collected by Stephanie Wilson at the Morris Arboretum

Joan Milam collected this particular Lasioglossum. Darn if it doesn't look like all the rest of them. Photography 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.

Check out the large ocelli on this bad boy. This is Lasioglossum texanum, a dusk loving bee that is out late when the Oenothera (evening primroses) bloom. This is a male, and was found in South Dakota in Badlands National Park.

Check out the large ocelli on this bad boy. This is Lasioglossum texanum, a dusk loving bee that is out late when the Oenothera (evening primroses) bloom. This is a male, and was found in South Dakota in Badlands National Park.

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

From Fossil Butte National Monument Wyoming...yet another Lasioglossum. Photo by Dejen Mengis.

A bee of western North America. This one was captured in Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the larger "sensu strictu" group of Lasioglossums.

A bee of western North America. This one was captured in Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the larger "sensu strictu" group of Lasioglossums.

A bee of western North America. This one was captured in Bryce Canyon National Park, one of the larger "sensu strictu" group of Lasioglossums.

A male, with great, long antennae, the yellow tarsal segments are distinctive in conjuction with the yellow on the clypeus and the slightly weakened veins in the wings. Collected by Tim McMahon and photoed by Dejen Mengis

A male, with great, long antennae, the yellow tarsal segments are distinctive in conjuction with the yellow on the clypeus and the slightly weakened veins in the wings. Collected by Tim McMahon and photoed by Dejen Mengis. Here I see the hands of a Balinese dancer

A male, with great, long antennae, the yellow tarsal segments are distinctive in conjuction with the yellow on the clypeus and the slightly weakened veins in the wings. Collected by Tim McMahon and photoed by Dejen Mengis

Here is a bee that clearly loves woodlands: Lasioglossum versans. In the obscure morphological vernacular of tiny sweat bees, I identify it by its tiny bulging purple "nose" (supraclypeus) and its complete lack of a hair fan on the base of T1.

Here is a bee that clearly loves woodlands: Lasioglossum versans. In the obscure morphological vernacular of tiny sweat bees, I identify it by its tiny bulging purple "nose" (supraclypeus) and its complete lack of a hair fan on the base of T1.