大象传媒

Mining bee (Andrena) on rose.

Mining bee (Andrena) emerging from a nest in a paved path.

Mason bee (Osmia) on crabapple. 

Melissodes microsticta male on Rudbeckia - A male small long-horned bee sips nectar on a black-eyed Susan flower. The 鈥渓ong-horned鈥� portion of their name refers to the distinctive long antennae which males have. 

Anthidium manicatum female 鈥� A female European wool carder bee rests on a rock. This species of bee was introduced to North America in the mid-20^th century. They are called wool carder bees because they collect plant fibers and 鈥渃omb鈥� them into the lining of their nests.

Halictus rubicundus female on Achillea millefolium 鈥� A female orange-legged furrow bee visits yarrow. This species has been extensively studied for their variability in social behaviour, contributing to our understanding of the evolution of social behaviour in insects.

"The Brown Belted Bumblebee (Bombus grisecolis) on my gardening glove was encountered during Master Naturalist work, at the Judge Morris Estate section of White Clay Creek State Park, where I met with a dedicated group of volunteers every week for environmental stewardship activities. I had accidentally dug this one up with my soil knife trying to get a stubborn knot of linden viburnum roots out of the ground for our forest restoration efforts, but she was understanding and just sat on my glove and brushed the dust off for a while before buzzing off." 

"The shiny green one on an aster is Augochlora pura, a pure green-gold sweat bee, taken at my beloved Delaware Museum of Nature and Science, where I did a free year-long program on the connections between plants and insects. It was taken in late October 2023, when I was teaching about solitary bees and the importance to have a variety of nectar sources through the entire season."

"The last one in flight is Bombus perplexa, the confusing bumble bee. I just love how little and fuzzy they are and this one had his tongue out!" 

"This one shows Bombus (Psithyrus) suckleyi, a species of cuckoo bee. They are so-called because like cuckoo birds, they kleptoparasitize the nest of a host species. In this case, these bees parasitize social bumblebee nests by killing the resident queens, usurping the throne, and having the resident colony raise their young. I spotted this bee on a hike in North Vancouver a few weeks ago, she was searching for host nests as you can see in this photo. You can tell Psithyrus from Bombus mostly by the sparsity or even absence of hair (also called 'pile') on the abdomen, and by the lack of pollen baskets (since they have been lost secondarily due to their lifestyle)."

"This photo shows a diverse assemblage of bees, which I found on a pile of scat while hiking in the Brazilian cerrado. The largest bee is Centris confusa, and is quite cool because it collects oil from plants! Other bees you can see include Trigona and Melipona species. A few years ago it was discovered that salt is an important component of nectar, and I speculate that they are lapping salts and perhaps other micronutrients from this scat. Given the location and morphology of the scat, mammologists have speculated that this scat belongs to a maned wolf (which I actually did see in the area that week!)."

"I was involved in working with honeybees before becoming a Master's student at 大象传媒. Here is a photo from some of my field work in Langley, you can see queen cells and larva along the edge of the frame as things were starting to get a bit crowded in the hive."

Black-tailed bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus)

Leaf cutter bee.

Sweat bee. 

Bumblebee (Bombus sp.) taken last summer. 

Black tailed bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) on Oregon grape.

Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) introduced to BC for greenhouse pollination

Bombus mixtus, taken in spring.

Honey bee.