https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/https://www.rawpixel.com/image/8755182
Hoplitis spoliata, male, face, NY, Franklin Co
Hoplitis spoliata, male, face, NY, Franklin Co
Sometimes male bees depart from the standard antennae shapes for some sort of new performance specs. No body seems to be studying why this might be, but there is substantive research on how incredible antennae can be at detecting just a few molecules. In this species (Hoplitis spoliata) you can see that the antennal segments widen out towards the center of the antennae and then narrow again. Why? Pictures taken at the Adirondack BioBlitz by Dejen Mengis.
The grass so little has to do,
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,
- Emily Dickinson. Original public domain image from Flickr
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