A. arabis? White clypeus, but I haven't seen this species before so I'd appreciate a second opinion. Unsure about facial proportions, and when I put it through DiscoverLife it eliminated arabis when I selected 'absent or obscure pitting' for the scutum, which is what it appears to be here (in any case the scutum and terga appear heavily tessellated). Also, it kind of looks like there's a tiny bit of white on the paraocular areas next to the clypeus on either side, so not sure what that's about. Average-sized, not small like a male ziziae or such. On Cardamine.
I thought that this pool had intricatus but this is bundyi.
Temp:29
Depth : 5m
MACBio20150430.6.42
Nomada composita, male
interrupta?? they were all over the place, mostly on Eschscholzia
Swollen cloaca
From inside a damp dark basement. It was living in the small gap between the mildewed cement wall and a metal sign
Six females collected from Castanea dentata in a chestnut orchard. All had pure Castanea pollen loads in the scopa & propodeal corbicula. Initial ID by me, verified via specimen by Sam Droege.
more/better pix tba
on Clerodendron trichotomum
Present daily once swamp azalea flowers, no other bees visit these. Two females present 6/21.
On moist, slightly muddy sand on shore of estuary. 2mm body length
Mullet caught in freshwater seine netting up Blackwater Brook in West Tisbury, MA.
The fish was released shortly after the photo was taken.
Caught in early January.
Found on back porch (in January!!). Prob. S. brevicornis, not sure how to discern. Skunk cabbage a few hundred feet away.
Seen in Tiasquam River, near where it flows under Tiasquam Road in WT.
Vernal pool survey authorized by DCR (under Research permit)
Common in Hibiscus moscheutos flowers. This far north/east, suggests A. hibisci? Please correct if not.
Numerous males on the ironweed, plus one female.
Blackback from Happy x Oruzogo family.
I presume - metallic blue abdomen, no appressed hairs on tergites. Wouldn't normally post but it looks like no iNat records for NH yet for this species.
Same location as @slamonde 's previous observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170730088
This individual was a little worse for the wear. I observed the patches of pickerelweed for almost an hour and a half before finally seeing this lone individual. Habitat is a small lake with abundant emergent vegetation. 3-4 small patches of pickerelweed were present. Dufourea novaeangliae also found (photos coming).
Observed this individual as it settled down to sleep, securing itself to a low-growing stem with its mandibles. Many Peponapis at this site.
Many (>10?) individuals nectaring actively and moving about frequently on Coreopsis (planted in pollinator garden).
@johnklymko @jhskevington @trinaroberts I thought at first this was S. bifasciata but it does not look right for that. Could this be S. slossonae? The bands are much more narrowly separated than in S. bifasciata and the bands are not as yellowish, i.e. more whitish. And this is a male anyway?
Finally tracked this one down! One female observed for many minutes collecting pollen from pinxter azalea in a swamp. No other Andrena visited these flowers, although several halictids did, including a few Dialictus that did collect pollen as well. This was a really cooperative individual and I have many more photos if other angles are needed.
I tried to find this species at this site last year but found the azalea was pollen-depleted in the afternoon. So I managed to get out there before noon this time!
The Empire State Native Pollinator Survey did not appear to have any records of this species in Onondaga Co.
Gathering pollen on swamp azalea.
Bear with me for some extensive notes! I hope this can be helpful to folks trying to ID these.
There seems to often be difficulty in separating Osmia taurus and Osmia cornifrons males; I believe this is O. taurus, and so I wanted to try and determine which characters were most reliable in distinguishing these species. This is the first time I have encountered a male O. taurus so I appreciate any feedback or discussion of their ID, and confirmation that this ID is correct. I've posted an O. cornifrons male as a direct comparison, with photos from the same angles, here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/157939181
This specimen stood out next to the series of O. cornifrons males as being larger (11mm next to ~9mm), more uniformly and densely hairy with on average longer hairs, and a more tawny/buffy color (though not orange or foxy as descriptions stated). The last photo in this series shows a lineup of males, with the O. taurus on the far left. However this likely falls within the range of variability for O. cornifrons.
DiscoverLife lists two main features to separate these species. Firstly, hair color, with O. cornifrons having generally paler hair with intermixed black hairs on the scutum, while O. taurus should have more rufous hair with no black hairs on the scutum. While as mentioned above, this O. taurus was more tawny, it did actually have a handful of black hairs on the scutum, restricted to the areas near the tegulae, or at least between the tegulae and parapsidal lines. There were no black hairs on the tergites. Black hairs were intermixed on the face for both, with O. cornifrons generally having a few more in the clypeal region.
Secondly, there is a description on DiscoverLife of the unpitted band on the clypeus:
O. cornifrons - "Head, clypeus apical rim, the central straight portion, shiny area forming a narrow, unpitted uniform band across the front of the clypeus, usually extending to the far sides, except in a few individuals which may have scattered pits on the far sides"
O. taurus - "Head, clypeus apical rim, the central straight portion, very shiny and unpitted in the center, but at the far edges of the rim before it curves back towards the head, this rim is invaded by the same pattern of heavy pits and roughness found throughout the rest of the clypeus this roughness usually extends near but not quite to the rim, thus the shiny unpitted portion of the rim forms a SEMI-CIRCLE rather than a uniform band as in O. cornifrons"
I found this description somewhat confusing, and could not identify these features on the specimens. All the specimens in my series appeared to have an unpitted band that stretched across the rim of the clypeus, with a few pits encroaching at the point where it curved back towards the face, then becoming shiny again past this point, essentially creating a semicircle. It was difficult to get photos of this, but I included two from different angles for each specimen. The O. cornifrons had a wider band especially in the center, with some specimens having this central part depressed (can be seen in the specimen photo in the other post). O. taurus had a few more pits encroaching on that curve - maybe 6-7 vs 3-4 in cornifrons. O. taurus had a minute notch in the center of the clypeal rim, whereas only 2 of 10 cornifrons specimens had a vague notch, the rest having a sinuous or complete margin.
However (and TLDR, skip to this part!), the most compelling and consistent difference was the shape of the gonocoxites. Luckily, these were extended on almost all the specimens. On O. cornifrons, they are bulbous, with the apical projection facing almost horizontal outwards - I liken the shape to a closed fist with the thumb extended straight out (see the other post). The projection barely rises vertically above the horizontal plane. In this specimen which I presume to be O. taurus, the gonocoxites are not nearly as expanded, and do not have a flat plane, instead being sloped diagonally downwards, and the projection faces diagonal upwards and out, like a closed hand viewed from the side with the index finger pointing out, i.e., the projection rises much more vertically away from the subapical area. I've showed photos from two angles, the second being a pretty poor photo (legs were in the way) but I wanted to show it from as close to the same angle as possible as the O. cornifrons for comparison.
In the other O. cornifrons specimens I looked at, there was absolutely no variation in the shape of the gonocoxites (as would be expected).
The difference here was so striking that I have to think this would be the most reliable character to separate males of these species. This is consistent with what is stated and illustrated in Yatumatsu and Hirashima 1950. Genitalia illustrations and good specimen photos of both species can be found here:
https://idtools.org/exotic_bee/index.cfm?packageID=1185&entityID=9084
Please let me know what you think!
Posted as a comparison to Osmia taurus here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/157939180
See that post for the full notes about this species pair and for photos to compare the shape of the gonocoxites and clypeus pitting.
This specimen was collected off of Salix caprea and is approximately 9mm long.
This little vagrant Allen’s Hummingbird was at our feeder for 57 days, from 11/29/2012 to 1/25/2013, when it succumbed to particularly harsh winter conditions. Confirmed and viewed by many.
Old observation. https://bugguide.net/node/view/293422/bgimage
Length 7 mm.
Original ID notes on BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/458288
Specimen was found in a bucket floating in Lagoon Pond by Shelly Edmundson.
Bioluminescent insects flashing red & green at 10pm
Maybe railway worms?
Photo taken from kayak.
Thousands and thousands and thousands on the wrack and warm cobble in the sun.
I think. The fine mesopleural hairs may be visible in the fourth picture. Otherwise, DiscoverLife narrowed me to this and cressonii, and the latter does not appear to have records in upstate NY.
Lasioglossum?
On a perennial Helianthus.