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In fulgid glory we present one of the ornaments of nature, Euglossa dilemma, one of the orchid bees.  Does the United States have any orchid bees?  No., I mean Yes.  It has this species (found on Key Biscayne) that has snuck into the U.S. from Central America.  It seems that it thrives on all the exotic plantings that now make up the landscape in most of South Florida.  If you are going to ruin all the native habitat then you might as well bring in some Christmas ornaments I suppose.

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One of the most common long-horned bees in the Mid-Atlantic.  Often confused with M. agilis and it is not at all clear how to tell the males apart.  Oh, this is Melissodes trinodis.   A lover of composites. Supporting composites supports M. trinodis for the holidays.   Photo by Erick Hernandez.      

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To see Centris fasciata, you must travel to the Caribbean.  This bright, happy, male was found in Cuba on the Guantanamo Naval Base.  Most of the Centris bees are big, way bigger than a honeybee, and gather plant oils to feed their young.  Lots of interesting plant interactions here, but I have no idea what species C. fasciata feeds on or uses on the Naval Base.  So much to learn. 

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Southern Snail-eating Snake, Dipsas cisticeps

Photos by Matthieu Berroneau on Flickr

This photographer on Facebook // Instagram

Posted with permission; do not remove credit!

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How small can a moth get?

There is a moth family called Nepticulidae that has some absolutely minuscule species, some with wingspans as small as 2 millimeters. They are usually leaf miners, meaning the caterpillars “mine” between the layers of tissue in leaves for food.

Here is a very tiny friend in this family that has a wingspan of about 3mm, Enteucha acetosae:

Photo by Patrick Clement

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shiny bees

neon cuckoo bee (thyreus nitidulus)

neon cuckoo bees are parasitic bees native to australia. they are recognisable by their stocky build and striking metallic black and blue colouration. as the name suggests, females seek out nests of the blue-banded bee and lay their eggs in them whilst they are unguarded. blue-banded bees often construct nests near to each other so the neon cuckoo may raid more than one nest in the same trip. after hatching in the host nest, the larvae of the cuckoo bee consume the larder that would be meant for the blue-banded larvae.

dilemma orchid bee (euglossa dilemma)

dilemma orchid bees are solitary, euglossine bees native to central america. they sport a glossy, metallic green colouration and translucent wings. males are specialised to pollinate neotropical orchids and collect fragrance from them for courtship, but when the orchids are not available, they may visit basil, rotten timber and wood oozing resin to gather other fragrances. to attract a mate, the male releases the fragrance and fans his wings to disperse it. after mating the female builds a solitary nest using exudates from plants.

long-tongued bee (euglossa hyacinthina)

the long-tongued bee (to answer your question, it’s 4cm long) is a species of orchid bee native to the neotropics of central america. it is a metallic, glossy blue with dark translucent wings. it is eusocial and has an unusual social structure - it has no worker or queen bees, but females are dominant when a social hierarchy is formed. 82% of these bees are female and only the females have stings. females spend a total of just 18-37 minutes building their resin nests to lay their eggs.

green sweat bee (agapostemon texanus)

green sweat bees are bright metallic green, blue or brassy yellow with black and yellow bands. like other sweat bees, these bees are attracted to human sweat for its salt, but they are also very important pollinators for many wildflowers and crops including pomme fuits, alfalfa, sunflowers and stone fruits. they build a nest in bare, dry dirt or soft wood and live a solitary life. only females are capable of stinging but are non-aggressive, so the risk to humans is low unless a female is swatted or otherwise injured.

orchard mason bee (osmia lignaria)  

at first glance, the orchard mason bee appears black, but is actually a stunning metallic blue or green. males have longer antennae than females and a tuft of light-coloured fluff on their foreheads. these bees are very shy and peaceful and fly away when disturbed instead of stinging. they can also decide on the sex of their eggs they lay by either fertilising the egg or not - unfertilised eggs are male, fertilised eggs are females. to lay the eggs, orchard bees make nests using mud and arrange their brood in a series of partitions, one egg per partition. one or two female eggs are laid in the back of the nest in the larger cavities and an average of three males towards the front. the mother works tirelessly to stockpile pollen in the nest for the emerging larvae until she dies at four to eight weeks old. (photo © raven ariana simons)

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I think the coolest thing I’ve seen so far this year with my work has been a gynandromorph bee! From what I have looked at so far, this carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) has male features on the right side of the head and female features on the left!

I am working through learning more about bee identification so I can take a more thorough look at this bee!

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how do beestings work?

When a bee stings their stinger pierces the skin in order to inject the victim with venom. There’s a big of a misconception about honeybees only being able to sting once. When it comes to mammals which have much thicker skin, this is true because the stinger becomes lodged in the skin. 

Bees unlike wasps or native bees, have barbed stingers that become caught in mammalian skin, which ripped out of the bee killing it.

When the stinger catches on the skin it rips out some of the internal organs of the bee and it’s this massive abdominal rupturethat kills it. The organs that get torn out are the venom sac and accompanying protractor and retractor muscles, which continue to pump venom for up to a minute. When a bee stings it’ll also release alarm pheromones, which will cause other bees to attack and it funnily enough smells like bananas.

This is why when you’ve been stung you want to get the stinger out as soon as you can, but you need to avoid just pinching and pulling it out because you’ll just squeeze all the venom into yourself regardless. To remove a stinger correctly you should use the flat surface of something like a card to scrape the stinger off.

Apitoxin or bee venom contains the toxin melittin which is the main protein component of the vemon that causes pain in vertebrates, as well as histamines and other amines that cause itching, swelling and pain. Bees venom is also acidic compared to other insect stings, all of which are different, so your reaction to a wasp sting (which are alkaline) can be very different to the bodies reaction to a bee sting. 

These proteins affect the immune system which can trigger in some people a much more severe immune reaction therefore resulting in anaphylaxis. You’ll know if someone is going into anaphylaxic shock when the swelling starts to spread rapidly across the body, swelling of the throat and tongue, abdominal pain, vomiting, fainting and so on. 

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Bee-ing Australian | WORLD BEE DAY

When most people think bees they tend to think of the domesticated (or semi-domesticated) European honeybee that humans have kept for thousands of years, or of common bumblebees found in the likes of the UK or the US. 

But there are well over 20,000 species of bees globally, 1700 of which are found in Australia. In fact of the seven families of bees, one the Stenotritidae consisting of 21 species, is found only in Australia and no where else in the world. Australia is known for our unique biodiversity and high endemism (animals found only in Australia) and our native bees are no exception.

I’ll be going through just a small handful of some of the amazing bees Australia has to offer. 

Apidae 

Blue-Banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata) 

Named for the distinctive blue bands along their abdomen, blue-banded bees are solitary bees found predominantly along the eastern coast (from the top of Queensland and down the coastline to NSW). The females nest in shallow burrows and are able to preform a specific type of pollination called sonication, therefore they’re able to pollinate flowering plants honeybees can’t. 

Neon Cuckoo bee (Thyreus nitidulus)

Covered in neon blue markings these bees are named after cuckoo birds as they are kleptoparasitistic in that, like their namesake, they lay their eggs in the nests of other bees. These bees lay their eggs in the nests of Blue-Banded bees.

Teddy bear bee (Amegilla bombiformis)

These bees are named for the yellow dense hair covering them and are found Australia-wide expect for Tasmania, They are ground-dwelling with solitary females building nests along creek banks or under houses.

Sugarbag Bee (Tetragonula carbonaria)

These tiny bees are about 4mm in size and are one of the only 14 species of eusocial species of bees, meaning they live as colonies in hives. These bees are stingless and defend themselves by producing a resin that they use to entomb intruders and pests. Their hives are build with a brood spiral in the middle, surrounded by “pots” of comb filled with honey and pollen, of which they produce only 1kg per year of honey.  

Megachilidae

Fire-tailed Resin Bees (Megachile mystacaena)

These resin bees build their tests in wood, boring tiny holes into the timber and then sealing the entrance with resin. They can typically be found nesting in people’s timber houses and are named for the bright orange-red abdomens.

Stenotritidae 

Little is known about specific species within this family of bees due to lack of research, but they are found only within Australia. They are typically large fast-flying bees that are covered in sense hair and typically nest in simple burrows in the ground. 

Ctenocolletes smaragdinus 

Ctenocolletes tigris 

Ctenocolletes albomarginatus

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Wasps are BEAUTIFUL, and you should APPRECIATE them

X

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Ariki 💙

Blue Kakariki

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Ink peacock study! 🦚

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Oh god everybody buckle up here come the bird feet

Anisodactyly

The most common bird-feet formation, with three toes forward and one toe back.  You see this with most perching birds, wading birds, swimming birds, and raptors.

Zygodactyly

A bird-feet formation occurring primarily in parrots.  The middle two toes are forward, and the outer two toes are pointed back.  Birds with these feet tend to spend a lot of time clambering oh-so-gracefully around trees instead of just perching.

Syndactyly

Three toes pointing forward, one back, but the outer and middle forward-pointing toes are fused, because kingfishers.

Heterodactyly

Like the zygodactyly found in parrots, but instead of having the outer toes pointing back, there are two toes pointing back and then two pointing forward.  This only happens in a group known by the weirdly-metal and made-up sounding name of “trogons,” which is basically quetzals, which are weirdly-metal and made-up looking birds.

Pamprodactyly

All four toes pointing forward, because fuck everything.  Found in swifts, because they’re not from this planet.

Okay, it’s not because they’re aliens, it’s because they do this.

A lot.

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The other eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa micans). 

Here is the male…more blue than black.  This species does not inhabit the porches, fences, decks, and cedar siding of our houses like its cousin X. virginica.  Instead it seems to select small diameter downed dead wood (though this is based on looking at pictures on google…so likely this is only part of the story).  No records on the East Coast north of VA.  Photo by Anders Croft.

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Green Orchid Bee, Euglossa dilemma Photos by Judy Gallagher