Images

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

Osmia simillima, female, Acadia National Park, Maine,

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..!

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

Pink Pollen Bee. Meet another lover of thistles. The large and late season Osmia texana. The pink pollen is the pink pollen of thistles (I think one of the non-native ones so maybe other thistles don't have pink pollen?).

Pink Pollen Bee. Meet another lover of thistles. The large and late season Osmia texana. The pink pollen is the pink pollen of thistles (I think one of the non-native ones so maybe other thistles don't have pink pollen?).

A thistle hugging giant of an Osmia..., who can't but love thistles and the several bee species that depend on them. Here is a specialist that depends on pollen from our native thistle plants to provision the cells of its young. Too often our native thistles also are taken out when people spray for introduced bull and Canada Thistles.

Note the expanded base of the mandibles...Collected by Tim McMahon and the first state record for Maryland, Photographed by Aaman Mengis.Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Photographer: Sam Droege, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200

A thistle hugging giant of an Osmia..., who can't but love thistles and the several bee species that depend on them. Here is a specialist that depends on pollen from our native thistle plants to provision the cells of its young. Too often our native thistles also are taken out when people spray for introduced bull and Canada Thistles.

Osmia trevoralis...more Osmia loveliness.... this time from Yellowstone National Park. 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.

Osmia trevoralis...more Osmia loveliness.... this time from Yellowstone National Park. 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.

Osmia trevoralis...more Osmia loveliness.... this time from Yellowstone National Park. 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.

Perhaps one of the most colorful Osmia, Osmia versicolor, collected by Jelle Devalez on the Aegean Islands of Greece. Yet another snail shell nester. What would these species do if there were no snail shells and no snails to make them? Photography by Maggie Yuan.