Now this is a rare bee, I have never seen or collected this species before seeing this lovely male in Kassie Urban-Mead's collection of bees from Connecticut, she collected it last year in a field on Verbena, there are only a scattering of records from NJ to Connecticut representing a disjunct population from the populations occurring in the western prairies, perhaps a residue of times past when prairie like conditions occurred here too
Now this is a rare bee, I have never seen or collected this species before seeing this lovely male in Kassie Urban-Mead's collection of bees from Connecticut, she collected it last year in a field on Verbena, there are only a scattering of records from NJ to Connecticut representing a disjunct population from the populations occurring in the western prairies, perhaps a residue of times past when prairie like conditions occurred here too
Perhaps it is too late at night or that I am listening to Enyaesque music and nibbling on pure cacao, but I am transfixed by this particular bee and shot, it just calls up something ancient, something that really brings home the fact that our evolutionary paths separated long ago. We each conquered the world in our own way but these successful pathways seem so utterly and beautifully alien. There is no need to imagine or personify alternative life forms on other planets when the examples of such splendid architectures are right here.