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)
The fact that I can see the wing venation well enough in this picture to tell that this is a bunch of Halictus males (as indicated by the strongly arcuate basal vein) is incredible…
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Apis mellifera & Agapostemon texanus . . for an upcoming book, an intro to bees of California, with Gretchen LeBuhn of the Great Sunflower Project.
Honeybees are so weird-looking to me…
(via scientificillustration)
Teeny tiny female Lasioglossum on a Gladiator pumpkin blossom in the field today. Adorable!
small black bee on a banana flower
Bee! (Taken with Instagram)
Came across this gem of a photo while looking for pictures to describe my hangover on my main account.
Perfection. I am also slightly hungover. Male Lasioglossum, possibly?
I love tiny sweat bees. This one is a Halictus!
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Tiny little Lasioglossum (probably)! So cute!
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