Images

Colletes inaequalis, female, Prince George's County, Maryland

Colletes inaequalis, female, Prince George's County Maryland

Another mid-summer Colletes from the central prairies. Note the "cute" face with the inner edges of the eyes converging towards the mouth. For some reason this automatically makes a bee cute compared to the standard bee face format that most species display.

Another mid-summer Colletes from the central prairies. Note the "cute" face with the inner edges of the eyes converging towards the mouth. For some reason this automatically makes a bee cute compared to the standard bee face format that most species display.

Another mid-summer Colletes from the central prairies. Note the "cute" face with the inner edges of the eyes converging towards the mouth. For some reason this automatically makes a bee cute compared to the standard bee face format that most species display.

A cute male bee.... this is the visual of almost all bees in the genus Colletes. Look at how the inner edges of the eyes come closer towards the mouth. For whatever reason, this cutifies pretty much any bee. Enough of that mushy bee stuff. This is a western prairie bee, one that I found at the eastern edge of its range in Hooker, NE.

A cute male bee.... this is the visual of almost all bees in the genus Colletes. Look at how the inner edges of the eyes come closer towards the mouth. For whatever reason, this cutifies pretty much any bee. Enough of that mushy bee stuff. This is a western prairie bee, one that I found at the eastern edge of its range in Hooker, NE.

Specialist: Colletes latitarsis, a lover of ground cherry,Physalis, a weedy plant, but a flowering one, and a native one, with its own set of the species that appear to only gather pollen and perhaps nectar from its flowers. This plant though is not uncommon, and occurs in many of the gardens.

Specialist: Colletes latitarsis, a lover of ground cherry,Physalis, a weedy plant, but a flowering one, and a native one, with its own set of the species that appear to only gather pollen and perhaps nectar from its flowers. This plant though is not uncommon, and occurs in many of the gardens.

Specialist: Colletes latitarsis, a lover of ground cherry,Physalis, a weedy plant, but a flowering one, and a native one, with its own set of the species that appear to only gather pollen and perhaps nectar from its flowers. This plant though is not uncommon, and occurs in many of the gardens.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

This bee collects pollen from the weedy, but native, Physalis or ground cherry plants. The flowers of this group are low and dangly and tend to be overlooked as does Colletes latitarsis. Likely more common than would appear as it rarely goes into traps and is hard to find unless hunted for directly. Joe Milone was the photographer.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

This bee collects pollen from the weedy, but native, Physalis or ground cherry plants. The flowers of this group are low and dangly and tend to be overlooked as does Colletes latitarsis. Likely more common than would appear as it rarely goes into traps and is hard to find unless hunted for directly. Joe Milone was the photographer.

Hiding in plain site. Is this Cellophane Bee... Colletes latitarsis is a bee that only feeds its babies pollen from the all american weed. Ground Cherry.... Physalis to you sciencey types. The thing about Physalis is that it is very shy about showing its sexual parts. The flowers dangle underneath its leafy roof and are this side of green for a yellow flower.

This bee collects pollen from the weedy, but native, Physalis or ground cherry plants. The flowers of this group are low and dangly and tend to be overlooked as does Colletes latitarsis. Likely more common than would appear as it rarely goes into traps and is hard to find unless hunted for directly. Joe Milone was the photographer.

Colletes nigrifrons, male, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Colletes nudus, female, Suffolk County, New York

From Suffolk, County New York near the tip of Long Island in September, This species just pops up in mid to late summer at low levels in the East. You should be so lucky to have some in the native habitat you encouraged on your property. (You did do that didn't you?). Photography by Brooke Alexander and Photoshopping by Elizabeth Garcia.

From Suffolk, County New York near the tip of Long Island in September, This species just pops up in mid to late summer at low levels in the East. You should be so lucky to have some in the native habitat you encouraged on your property. (You did do that didn't you?). Photography by Brooke Alexander and Photoshopping by Elizabeth Garcia.