Why rare bees are attracted to me? A question that doesn't really keep me up at night, but...here consider this Dieunomia nevadensis. (Nice orange legs there, lady Di). This bee is known from one site in Maryland. So it is rare. It also has not been found in the surrounding states...so this population would appear to be very special. You have to go to North Carolina to find a record. Interesting in a Bermuda Triangle sort of way is the fact that this site is only a couple of miles from my house. How cool is that? This particular specimen collected by Tim McMahon, but the very first one (and there was only one) I found at a sand mine at the same spot. This has happened repeatedly, I am seemingly surrounded by rare bees that are attracted from long distances away to be near me. Or, perhaps it is not so much my beeaura but the fact that there are so few people really looking for bees? How are bees really doing then? Don't ask me I have beeaura issues. Photo by Brooke Goggins.
