#moltenblue

The gorgeous Osmia distincta.   First off, that blue!  Unlike any other blue, it is radiating raw, liquid heat, and so unlike any other blue as to be an entire new color.  Phew.  This bee is also a specialist (in case you want to find a liquid heat bee) it is a specialist on beardstoungue with their odd little flowers (look up Penstemon pollination for some fun reading) which provide pollen to those who have the proper tools.  This love for penstemon pollen is why this species has hairs on its head that point forward.  They excel at finding small patches of beardstongue in gardens and in the wild.  If you plant it they will show up.  Here you have another reason to plant a diverse native flower portfolio in your garden...no Penstemon no Liquid Hot Bees.  Diversify yourself please. 

!!!!!WARNING!!!!!HYPERPARASATOID - Who doesn't love a perilampid HYPERPARASITE?  So dashing - a metallic, gleaming architecture of triangle riveted on mound, sluicing across eroded ruts and pits to mirror perfect pregnant inflammation of integument. Few enjoy this 2mm long viewing.  Fewer still understand that it goes from egg, to larvae to drilling into caterpillar to waiting for another insect to parasitize the caterpillar to waiting for that parasite to pupate to the invading and completing its cycle in the parasite.  Photo by Cole Cheng. 

THESE COLORS WERE NOT ALTERED.  Yes, Perilampid wasps look like this.  And, there are insect themes (almost actually memes) where certain groups flip the switch and go from the more normal apparently melanin based integuments (my quick read of the lit is that melanin is not just a pigment, but a   super hero pigment that has all sort of super powers that I am not competent to talk about, but probably a big reason that insect bodies are fuscous (old name meaning dark, but maybe not black, also indicates that I might be showing off just a little in the way that taxonomists like their jargon because they are valued so little by society)) to metallic.  Probably under there is still an armor of melanin, but that it just a guess.  Anyway Perilampids like this one do metal in spades.  Sadly there will be no more Perilampids on this site if the 200 acre maglev trainyard is built on top these globally rare forests.  Where are the metallic people btw?  Photo by Cole Cheng.  

Study Opp.  Here is an appropriately named bee.  Andrena ziziae.  It is a specialist on...Zizia (Golden Alexanders or its 2 sisters (presumably)).  Now Zizia is widely planted, but is Andrena ziziae benefiting?  Does it leave its wildish landscapes to move into the mulch puddles of its pollen plant that now dot suburbia?   [Side bar.  Like in the old days where marks and signs were used to identify safe houses for repressed groups who were on the lam, the presence of a Zizia planting in your yard identifies you (at least to me) as a gentle progressive and makes me smile]  So, back to the original point.  It would be interesting to check out all these plantings to see if any of them are fraternizing with this bee.  Just so you know, this is a small bee, about 1/2 the size of the honey bee.  Wimpy sting too, can't even penetrate a baby's skin.  This bee was collected by Ai Wen in Iowa and the photo taken by Cole Cheng.