Teeeeny tiny parasitoid wasp! The fly above it is about 1.5mm long to give you an idea of the size of this thing. Pencil to scale in the second photo (fly still above the wasp).
Parasitoid wasps lay their eggs directly into their hosts, which is often a caterpillar. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the host while it’s still alive. The larvae pupate, and end up killing the host when they emerge as adults.
These little guys are so efficient at finding their hosts that they’re often used as biological control agents in agricultural settings.
Anthidium mormonum . . sample account image for book, Bees of California, with Gretchen LeBuhn of the Great Sunflower Project . . ink & watercolor with labels added in AI
Beeeeeeeeees
(via scientificillustration)
Agapostemon texanus, WIP, First Pass With Acrylics . . image for a bee book with Gretchen LeBuhn of the Great Sunflower Project
(via scientificillustration)
Bee high five! Bombus impatiens queen on a sunflower last month in Connecticut.
Snuggle Bees - Laikipia, Kenya :3
by National Geo staff
Most species of bees on the planet are solitary and not social like honeybees. Among the solitary species, females have nests to return to at night, but males have nowhere to go and end up sleeping on vegetation. Sometimes males will huddle together for warmth and comfort. Here are two different species of male bees, an Amegilla bee on the right and a long-horn bee (Tetraloniella) on the left, that have snuggled up together on a stalk of grass in a sheltered spot under an acacia tree.
(via: National Geo) (photo: Dino Martins)
Oh god, dying from cuteness…
Bees That Cheat Their Flowers
by National Geo staff
It turns out that in nature there are lots of cheaters. Here a tiny stingless bee waits patiently on an eggplant flower as a Nomia bee approaches. The Nomia bee has the capability and strength to buzz pollinate this specialized flower. This involves the bee holding the flower in its “teeth” (mandibles) and vibrating it at a specific frequency using its wing muscles. Only then is pollen released. As the stingless bee is too puny to do this, it simply waits and then steals pollen that spills out after the Nomia bee has buzzed the flower.
(via: National Geo) (photos: Dino Martins)
(via buggirl)
bugbrained: Miner bee in Euphorbia flower by Lord V, on Flickr
Xylocopa confusa (Carpenter bee, male), Sarawak, Borneo
It’s cold enough in the mornings now that the bumblebees are sluggish and adorable.
