Sunday, September 11, 2022

Photo Sunday: One, Two, Three and Four

American Thintail Fly (Meliscaeva cinctella)
Northern Amber Bumble Bee (Bombus borealis)
(August 2, 2016)

I am always looking for two or more species together using one plant. The photo above was a very special shot of a bumble bee that is rare on my land and two syrphid flies that I barely ever see.  The thistle plant was growing next to the house, hence the white background. 

But even more exciting for me was the day I went to Jody's garden and photographed a tortoise beetle with a fairy bee. The Vermont bee specialist was so excited that he came to visit Jody and her garden and we learned a lot more about bees that day. Fairy bees are very rare everywhere. Tortoise beetles are not that rare but are uncommon and difficult to find. I'll be writing more about that bee and the consequences of finding it very soon.

Clavate Tortoise Beetle (Plagiometriona clavata)
Fairy bee (subgenus Perdita)

My number justification?
One of one species
Two of one species
One plant
Four species

_/\_/\_

8 comments:

  1. Fairy Bees? Tortoise Beetles!! Amazing!!

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  2. Wow! You are teaching me a lot about insects, making me run to Wiki to learn a bit more.

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  3. ...this bee very nice. We brought me back to my college entomology class in the '60s. Thanks for stopping by my blogger.

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  4. Bravo! The more blogs feature insects the better!

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  5. the first ones are familiar ones but not the ones on second photo. :)

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  6. The tortoise beetle is amazing!
    Surprisingly perhaps, we get the same hoverfly (Meliscaeva cinctella) over here in the UK!
    I also like trying to get two species of insect on the same flower.

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