June 17, 2016

Bee well-dusted with poppy pollen.

DSC_0011

(Click to enlarge.)

14 comments:

DUSTER said...

I wonder what makes bee's sneeze?

Paco Wové said...

Allow me to be the first pedant to observe that that is some species of fly, not a bee.

Birches said...

Keep the beautiful pictures coming.

Meade said...

Breadseed.

Quaestor said...

That's not a bee. It's a fly.

Quaestor said...

Honeybees, along with wasps, hornets, bubble bees, and ants are members of the order Hymenoptera, meaning "wedded wings". Flies are members of the Diptera – two winged.

Count the wings on that pollen-dusted pedal denizen. Two, ergo fly. Also look at the antennae. Honeybees have long antennae with a distinct "elbow" about midway. Observe. Files distinctively stubby antennae.

There are a number of fly species which mimic bees and wasps, for the obvious reason that bees and wasps can defend themselves, unlike celebrants at gay nightclubs in Florida. The one appearing in Althouse's photo is a syrphid fly (aka hoverfly) which is an important pollinator.

Here's another bee-mimicking fly, the equine botfly, which is a really nasty customer. It glues its eggs to the forelegs of a horse, one might call them anchor babies, which are later licked off by the horse and ingested. The eggs hatch inside and the larvae attach to the intestine wall where they suck blood until they pupate and are expelled along with the dung. They mimic the harmless honeybee so that the horse isn't alarmed by their hovering.

Quaestor said...

Sorry,Paco, didn't notice your 4:29 comment.

Paco Wové said...

You may have won this round, Quaestor, but I shall return, and be more pedantic than you dreamed possible!!

Quaestor said...

Hoverflies are attracted to yellow for some reason. Back when I did summer work as a civil engineering tech I noticed them hovering around and landing on my theodolite and its tripod, both finished in bright safety yellow paint.

Big Mike said...

@Paco, you only asked to be first, not most pedantic.

Quaestor said...

Just call me Darth Perspicacious, Sith Lord of Information. (wheeze)

madAsHell said...

One of my oldest friends (kindergarten) stopped by with some licensed (taxed) marijuana. We smoked it in the nearby park. I'm pretty sure I took some outstanding pictures of bugs, and flowers on my phone, but I can't seem to find them now.

Go figure!?!?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Legalize opium!

Anonymous said...

an interesting picture