Agapostemon Almighty

Last weekend, in addition to all my fun with turtles and Green Heron, I also had the pleasure of attending my friends’ annual ceramic/jewelry sale at their home. Although it was easy to be entranced by so much amazing artistry in one place, I still found myself occasionally sidetracked by the critters. You see, they have a simply wonderful garden (featuring many native plants) and the birds, insects, lizards and small mammals surely must be eternally grateful to them for such splendid habitat. I told myself I wasn’t going to walk around taking pics the whole time, but when I saw this little green jewel… well, how could one realistically resist?!

When I showed her my photos, Ro told me that she had been seeing the same bee on that sunflower earlier. She asked what kind of bee it was, but my response at the time was a bit vague… Probably something like this:

“Well, it’s in the family Halictidae. A group of bees that are commonly known as ‘Sweat Bees’. (Yeah, I know, not the most romantic of names!) There are two different kinds that I think it could be, but I forget how to pronounce their names — they both sound like Greek gods to me…”

In my defense, many insects don’t have common names assigned to them, just long, hard to pronounce scientific names. A lot of them also look very, very similar and I confess that in the end I needed one of the insanely good experts on BugGuide to help me out. With his assistance, I can now confidently say:

“Behold! Agapostemon! All-powerful green god of the sunflower children. Dazzling beyond measure, with skin that sparkles like a million emeralds and furry chaps dripping with gold dust”

*GRIN*

I guess I’m feeling a bit silly today…

There are so many species of native bees (as opposed to the introduced, non-native Honey Bee, Apis mellifera) and they come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Next time you see one… approach slowly and take a good close look… they’re beautiful creatures! (Oh, and if you happen to take a picture… send it to me! I love getting the opportunity to try to identify mystery insects.)