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#nativebees

4 posts3 participants0 posts today
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Albert Cardona

3 hours later the bumblebees had undertaken significant repairs of their nest entrance.

The size of the entrance is important to control, among other factors, the temperature. When too hot they’ll fan our air with their wings. When too cold they’ll shiver to warm it up. All in all to setup the optimal conditions for their brood.

inaturalist.org/observations/2
#iNaturalist #bumblebees #nativebees #Hymenoptera #entomology

iNaturalistEarly Bumble Bee (Bombus pratorum)Early Bumble Bee in April 2025 by Albert Cardona. A few hours later the bumblebees have reconstructed their nest entrance, protecting the brood and...
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Ele Willoughby, PhD

It’s #InverteFest again! So here is my pollinator propaganda for Manufactured Ecosystems. Thinking about the future of pollination and seeking solutions from technological and nature-based knowledge. This is essentially my conclusion: we can aid our beleaguered pollinators with technology but their continued success is vital. We need to foster the insects to keep ecosystems functioning. 🧵
#linocut #printmaking #sciart #insects #entomology #ecology #pollinators #nativeBees #butterflies #moths

As described this 16” x 20” linocut print combines gold text in a central circle reading “OUR FATE” arching upwards, “IS TIED” horizontally across the middle, “TO THAT OF THE INSECTS” arching downwards in two lines with insects. Clockwise from top: two leaf cutter bees (Megachile relativa and M. brevis), the Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis), the Virgin Tiger moth (Apantesis virgo), an Isabella’s Longwings butterfly (Nymphalidae Eueides isabella), a blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria), a firefly (Photinus pyralis), the rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), a white underwing moth (Catocala relicta), an eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica), a sweat bee (Agapostemon sericeus), a hummingbird clearwing moth (Hermaris thysbe), the common eastern bumblebee (B. impatiens), a long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.), a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and centre: eastern snail-shell nesting bee (O. conjuncta).
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neville park

the females—there seemed to be only a few, maybe only one very popular one—are golden rather than silver, and very slightly broader in build. periodically one saw a little "bee ball" with a female and at least one male rolling around the dusty, sunny slope.

i don't know what family they are—Andrenidae? Colletidae?—anyway, some kind of solitary ground-nesting bee.

A golden-furred female bee (left), with one leg raised, next to a more silvery male (right).
The male clings to the female's back. They are both lying on their sides on the ground, legs flailing.
The female's warm-golden-furred legs flail as the male bee holds on for dear life.
A confusing tangle of furry legs, striped abdomens, amber wings.
#toronto#bugstodon#insects
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Ele Willoughby, PhD

Sometimes things don’t go as planned but, you make a new plan. Working on my (bee propaganda) next print about the future of pollination for Manufactured Ecosystems, I dropped my inked plate with the text and slipped - after completing 9 bees. 😔 I was pretty frustrated, but I started again from scratch.

But I didn’t want the original, with all that work to go to waste. 🧵1/n

As described, this is my 16” x 20” print with a ring of bees plus one in the middle with collaged text in bronze. Clockwise from top: two leaf cutter bees (Megachile relativa and M. brevis), blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria), the rusty patched bumblebee* (Bombus affinis), a sweat bee (Agapostemon sericeus), eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica), the common eastern bumblebee (B. impatiens), a long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.) and centre: eastern snail-shell nesting bee (O. conjuncta). The text reads “Our Fate is Tied to that of the Insects” in a ring around the assorted bees.
#linocut#printmaking#sciart
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