Not sure of the ID but seems to be a Mining Bee, Family Andrenidae, Genus Andrena (Melandrena). Length 13.5mm.
105mm MicroNikkor on bellows; f/8 on lens, Zerene Stacker PMax of fine small jpg's
Mining Bee ? New Image Added
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Mining Bee ? New Image Added
Quite a few of these flying about for the last few days. Needed a specimen for a voucher. Collected just this one in an attempt to learn the local insect fauna.
Not sure of the ID but seems to be a Mining Bee, Family Andrenidae, Genus Andrena (Melandrena). Length 13.5mm.
105mm MicroNikkor on bellows; f/8 on lens, Zerene Stacker PMax of fine small jpg's
Not sure of the ID but seems to be a Mining Bee, Family Andrenidae, Genus Andrena (Melandrena). Length 13.5mm.
105mm MicroNikkor on bellows; f/8 on lens, Zerene Stacker PMax of fine small jpg's
Last edited by NikonUser on Sat May 02, 2009 5:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
-
Planapo
- Posts: 1581
- Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:33 am
- Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe
NU, if I see right, it's a female. So, can you find the ringlet/hair curl on the Trochanter? From the dorsal perspective of your photo above, it looks as if there could be one.
"Mining bee", now these colloquial names tend to confuse me! Over here Andrena spp. are called "Sandbienen = sand bees".
Well yes, both names indicate that they nest in the soil.
What background provided that nice overcast sky look, if I may ask?
--Betty
"Mining bee", now these colloquial names tend to confuse me! Over here Andrena spp. are called "Sandbienen = sand bees".
Well yes, both names indicate that they nest in the soil. What background provided that nice overcast sky look, if I may ask?
--Betty
Betty:
I'm not familiar with bee anatomy so had no idea what a "hair curl" was. Anyway, looked underneath the beast and sure enough on the hind trochanter there is a bunch of hairs that can be described only as a "hair curl". What's it's function/significance.
Background simply an unevenely spray-painted white card. The bee is resting on a standard camera UV filter and the card is 3cm below the glass - gives a nice OOF structured background that seems to keep ZS happy.
I'm not familiar with bee anatomy so had no idea what a "hair curl" was. Anyway, looked underneath the beast and sure enough on the hind trochanter there is a bunch of hairs that can be described only as a "hair curl". What's it's function/significance.
Background simply an unevenely spray-painted white card. The bee is resting on a standard camera UV filter and the card is 3cm below the glass - gives a nice OOF structured background that seems to keep ZS happy.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
-
Planapo
- Posts: 1581
- Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:33 am
- Location: Germany, in the United States of Europe
NU, Yes it's the hind trochanter where the conspicuous hair curl is located, it's well shown in your second picture.
As to its function/significance: It's another structure that helps transporting pollen. I have seen pollen loaded Andrena females with the pollen freight extending from tibia via femur, trochanter, coxa and up to the sides of the mesosoma.
The hair curl is a conspicuous character in this genus, which is mentioned in keys, sometimes referred to as "floculus".
I will have to try that method with the specimen resting on glass or a filter. I thought the glass would be distractingly visible, but your photo here shows that it doesn't, so that I was assuming the bee had been mounted on a ventrally placed pin .
--Betty
As to its function/significance: It's another structure that helps transporting pollen. I have seen pollen loaded Andrena females with the pollen freight extending from tibia via femur, trochanter, coxa and up to the sides of the mesosoma.
The hair curl is a conspicuous character in this genus, which is mentioned in keys, sometimes referred to as "floculus".
I will have to try that method with the specimen resting on glass or a filter. I thought the glass would be distractingly visible, but your photo here shows that it doesn't, so that I was assuming the bee had been mounted on a ventrally placed pin .
--Betty
No pollen on this bee; season still very early here although there are a few flowers out.
I tried a similar shot with a tabanid part on a microscope slide, didn't work! Got a reflection from the slide surface. Rik came up with the suggestion of using a lens UV filter - it worked, no reflections.
I tried a similar shot with a tabanid part on a microscope slide, didn't work! Got a reflection from the slide surface. Rik came up with the suggestion of using a lens UV filter - it worked, no reflections.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
-
rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23604
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
- Contact:
I'm currently shooting with the subject resting on a slide. I thought I might encounter problems with reflections but I haven't so far. Guess I've been lucky with the placement/angle of lighting...
The only minor problem I do have is sometimes the last shot or two in a stack gets the surface of the glass in focus and then all sorts of skank shows up on it, even if I just cleaned it! Easy enough job to clean up in pp afterwards, or just omit the last couple of shots from the stack.
Really nice shots NU!
The only minor problem I do have is sometimes the last shot or two in a stack gets the surface of the glass in focus and then all sorts of skank shows up on it, even if I just cleaned it! Easy enough job to clean up in pp afterwards, or just omit the last couple of shots from the stack.
Really nice shots NU!