Here are a few new photos from the last week or two — got a handful of interesting bees.
A green metallic bee (Agapostemon virescens) arcs her back to get at a cornflower’s pollen.Nomada I think, a cuckoo bee. The name comes from their habit of laying their eggs in other bees’ nests. These are always really striking bees to look at: this one is blood red, with gargoyle-like sculpturing along the thorax. Very neat. Very similar composition and posture as the Agapostemon above — but I both images. This is Halictus, another of the halictid sweat bees, and it’s the first time I got a clear-enough shot of one to be confident of the ID.Cerceris, a parasitic wasp that generally preys on beetles. One of the other species in this genus is used as biocontrol, to help keep down the population of the a very destructive invasive beetle called the emerald ash borer.Megachile, a leaf-cutter bee. They use leaf clippings to build their nests. I’ve never found leaf-cutters before this summer, but I’m suddenly seeing more of them than any other bee. Most likely this is because I’m shooting in some new locations lately. Same flower as the cuckoo bee above; ugly yellow for a photo, but the bees love them.
