Images

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

A purposefully introduced bee, used, at times, in the pollination of alfalfa and other crops, but now widely naturalized and can be found throughout North America, particularly in urban or disturbed areas. Collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland and photographed by Brooke Alexander

Another shot, and a rather charming one I think, of a male Megachile rotundata. Sierra Williams took the picture and Elizabeth Garcia did the Shopping. 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.

Clean up time...we are going through our backlog of about 1000 unedited pictures and trying to get them uploaded. This is a nice Megachile rotundata, but sadly we seem to not have recorded where it was from when we took the picture, nor was our ability to set the picture very sophisticated as you see the pin running out the side. So it goes.

Collected by Heather Campbell in the sandhils of North Caroline (Moore County) here is a relatively uncommon bee of the sandy areas of the Deep South. Picture by Colby Francouer. 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.

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

A interesting leaf-cutting bee, largely restricted to the heavy sand regions of the coastal plains of the Carolinas down to Florida, quite a number of other species have simliar distributions with deep sand being a linking factor. Collected by Heather Campbell and photographed by Colby Francoeur

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

Magnificent, though invasive. This bee originates in the South China, Korea, Japan part of the world, where it happily feeds its babies pollen from leguminous plants, particularly woody ones, including Kudzu vine. It has been introduced into North America now and spread as far as Colorado, likely will go all the way to the West Coast.

An introduced species that is so large and tough but it can evict Xylocopa virginica, the Carpenter bee, out of its nest by a combination of smearing it with resin and stinging it to death. Picture taken by Heagan Ahmed in Photoshop to buy Dejen Mengis.

Megachile sculpturalis, female, Maryland

From Kenya comes one of the many flavors of Megachile...or leaf cutting bees, though this species likely does not cut leaves as you can see from the lack of cutting edges on its mandibles, more likely its paddle like mandibles are made for moving mud around.

From Kenya comes one of the many flavors of Megachile...or leaf cutting bees, though this species likely does not cut leaves as you can see from the lack of cutting edges on its mandibles, more likely its paddle like mandibles are made for moving mud around.

Kruger Park! South Africa! This is the first specimen we have put up from our recent trip to survey bees in Kruger. At this point I am incompetent to tell the species apart (there are no field guides to bees Citizen), but I can tell you this is a Megachile in what appears to be the subgenus Eutricharaea.

Kruger Park! South Africa! This is the first specimen we have put up from our recent trip to survey bees in Kruger. At this point I am incompetent to tell the species apart (there are no field guides to bees Citizen), but I can tell you this is a Megachile in what appears to be the subgenus Eutricharaea.

Unknown Megachile Species from the Dominican Republic

Lasioglossum versatum. One of the most common little sweat bees in the East. Particularly common in the cooler mid-latitudes. These bees can dominate the captures in surveys of bee species of a region. Something of a mess taxonomically.

One of the common Dialictus group Lasioglossum species, often involved in confusion among several similar species. This one collected by Tim McMahon in Cecil County Maryland

Often the most common Lasioglossum at a location in the East. This is Lasioglossum versatum. While common it has the sad trait of sometimes looking like L. trigeminum or L. callidum or L. adimirandum. In isolation they all seem so separable, but since they often occur at the same site and have a tendency to look slightly similar it can be a nightmare.