Thread | Brutkey

1st planted lacy phacelia 3 yrs ago. Noticed lots of small (¼ in) sweat bees that climbed the stamens to gather pollen. Not often you see a metallic green bee covered in purple pollen so I plant phacelia every yr to try to (re)capture it.

#StormHour #MacroPhotography #insects #Photography #AltText

Extreme closeup of a small sweat bee (ID apps suggest a white-footed sweat bee) climbing a vertical stamen of a lacy phacelia flower with out of focus stamens and a gray wall in the background. This bee's back legs and pollen baskets are covered in purple pollen collected from the dark purple anthers that top each pale purple stamen. This species has similar features to honeybees with a dull metallic green abdomen, thorax, and head covered in fine gold hairs, two segmented antennae, three simple eyes on the forehead, two large compound eyes on either side of the head, six legs, and transparent amber wings with dark veining.

@gecole@universeodon.com

@Rihilism@toot.community That metalic green / purple coloring is fantastic!

🦅

RichKeller Photography🏳️‍🌈

@Rihilism@toot.community

@gecole@universeodon.com

I caught that pic on Sunday and I think that's my best capture of them so far. I love metallic colors in nature and I don't recall any other plant with such beautiful purple pollen.