you-GLOSS-in-ee, you-glo-sa

Today went very well. I started off in the gym, and did a little yoga, soaked up some sun, and went to meet T for lunch at school. He had to go learn acid and base wash, or something to that effect, and I went into the lab to my Bombus. It went much more smoothly today, and I became much more familiar with all my bumbles.

While in the compactors fetching trays, I realised I might want to have a little bit of a look at the other surrounding bees in the row. I pulled out a draw of Euglossini, giant orchid bees. They were huge, slighly metalic green and baige and black. I went down a few more, and saw some of the most beautiful bees I have ever seen in my life. They literally took my breath away. I think I'm in love with them. So now that I am at home, my interest has been fully sparked, and I want to learn more. A few staples, wikipedia and google image search and I've found a nice example. New time I go into the lab I want to bring my camera and snap a few picture of them too.

Apparently they are exclusively tropical, so I'd have to go to Mexico or central America to find any. There is one species Euglossa viridissima, which has become established in Florida. I'm reading a paper right now about the introduction of this foreign species. The bees of this group are solitary. They are very beautiful and shiney. The males put all their time and effort into collecting scents with which they perfume themselves, perhaps as recognition or as a sign of male fitness.

Haha wow, this is interesting. The male orchid bees have the unusual behavior of activly collecting large amounts of DDT from homes in Brazil, and do not suffer any harm from the insecticide. WEIRD!

The males have modified hind legs to carry the fragrances they collect.


Well now I'm just going to go collect a bunch of images to try and capture the ranges colors and beauty of these bees.



I like that last one because it looks like the bees are playing :)