Images

This is an odd Genus of bee from Kruger National Park where I traveled with Jonathan Mawdsley to South Africa to collect bees in the park. While a poor shot in terms of the antennae...if you look closely one of the antennae is broadened like the bowl of a spoon (thus the genus name Spatunomia) while the other is simply broken off.

This is an odd Genus of bee from Kruger National Park where I traveled with Jonathan Mawdsley to South Africa to collect bees in the park. While a poor shot in terms of the antennae...if you look closely one of the antennae is broadened like the bowl of a spoon (thus the genus name Spatunomia) while the other is simply broken off.

This is an odd Genus of bee from Kruger National Park where I traveled with Jonathan Mawdsley to South Africa to collect bees in the park. While a poor shot in terms of the antennae...if you look closely one of the antennae is broadened like the bowl of a spoon (thus the genus name Spatunomia) while the other is simply broken off.

Unknown Sphecidae Wasp, Anne Arundel County, Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, Maryland, July 2012

Another Heather Campbell collected bee from the Sandhills, this one a nest parasite, likely on something in the genus Lasioglossum, a very small bee...Check out the WIPs in the wing (Wing Interference Patterns) quite lovely ....

Another Heather Campbell collected bee from the Sandhills, this one a nest parasite, likely on something in the genus Lasioglossum, a very small bee...Check out the WIPs in the wing (Wing Interference Patterns) quite lovely ....

Another Heather Campbell collected bee from the Sandhills, this one a nest parasite, likely on something in the genus Lasioglossum, a very small bee...Check out the WIPs in the wing (Wing Interference Patterns) quite lovely ....

Headless Bee. This is the tiny Sphecodes antennariae. The smallest, I believe, Sphecodes in the MidAtlantic. The head fell off somewhere between selection for photographing and photographing. One slighly unusual feature of this nest parasite (likely of Lasioglossum) is that it only has 2 rather than 3 submarginal cells...most of the time.

Headless Bee. This is the tiny Sphecodes antennariae. The smallest, I believe, Sphecodes in the MidAtlantic. The head fell off somewhere between selection for photographing and photographing. One slighly unusual feature of this nest parasite (likely of Lasioglossum) is that it only has 2 rather than 3 submarginal cells...most of the time.

More Sphecodes from the Adirondack Mountains of New York. There are many species of Sphecodes. They look remarkably the same. Females, like this one, inevitably have red butts and the rest about small sculptural differences.

More Sphecodes from the Adirondack Mountains of New York. There are many species of Sphecodes. They look remarkably the same. Females, like this one, inevitably have red butts and the rest about small sculptural differences.

More Sphecodes from the Adirondack Mountains of New York. There are many species of Sphecodes. They look remarkably the same. Females, like this one, inevitably have red butts and the rest about small sculptural differences.

Forgot to add this one with the other shots of the specimen.

Sphecodes davisii - Collected in the Adirondack Mountains as part of an expedition to the region in 2014. No Sphecodes gathers pollen. All Sphecodes are nest parasites. Laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Most are nest parasites of species in their family of Halictidae...but sometimes they dabble in other species.

Sphecodes davisii - Collected in the Adirondack Mountains as part of an expedition to the region in 2014. No Sphecodes gathers pollen. All Sphecodes are nest parasites. Laying their eggs in the nests of other species. Most are nest parasites of species in their family of Halictidae...but sometimes they dabble in other species.

Red Butts. Red abdomens are not super common in the bee world BUT (so to speak) many of those with red abdomens are parasitic members of Sphecodes (fattigi in this picture) or Nomada in North America. On other continents, its other groups. This come from Fort A.P Hill, collected by Ellison Orcutt and company from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Red Butts. Red abdomens are not super common in the bee world BUT (so to speak) many of those with red abdomens are parasitic members of Sphecodes (fattigi in this picture) or Nomada in North America. On other continents, its other groups. This come from Fort A.P Hill, collected by Ellison Orcutt and company from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Red Butts. Red abdomens are not super common in the bee world BUT (so to speak) many of those with red abdomens are parasitic members of Sphecodes (fattigi in this picture) or Nomada in North America. On other continents, its other groups. This come from Fort A.P Hill, collected by Ellison Orcutt and company from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

More Sphecodes shots....this one again from our expedition to the Adirondack Mountains. A big species (for a Sphecodes) about 2/3rds the size of a honey bee. Picture by Brooke Alexander.

More Sphecodes shots....this one again from our expedition to the Adirondack Mountains. A big species (for a Sphecodes) about 2/3rds the size of a honey bee. Picture by Brooke Alexander.

More Sphecodes shots....this one again from our expedition to the Adirondack Mountains. A big species (for a Sphecodes) about 2/3rds the size of a honey bee. Picture by Brooke Alexander.