This nasty-looking piece of work is a triungulin, the first instar larva of a beetle in the family Meloidae. This particular one is riding an Andrena bee that is foraging on a willow blossom. At the time I photographed this creature, I was sitting at the edge of the forest near my home, trying to […] Read more
When I think of a bee, I imagine something fluffy and cute. But this bee doesn’t fit the image, looking more like a space rover, examining the terrain with thick antennae and marbled eyes. Although brown and yellow, from a distance the bee appears eerily translucent. Last week I was kneeling on the eewie-gooey forest […] Read more
Right now, everyone wants to kill mining bees. Well, they don’t say “kill,” they say “get rid of.” It’s all the same. So, what is a mining bee? Basically, it’s a type of bee that builds nests in underground tunnels. Each tunnel is usually separate from other tunnels, although they may live in large communities […] Read more