 EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes
and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and
archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


 Salty Bees Fueling for Winter

   November 18, 2020

    Sweet bee

   Photographer:  Rob Sheridan
   Summary Author:  Rob Sheridan

    Sweat Bees are so nicknamed for their attraction to  salt,
   including, annoyingly at times, human perspiration. Belonging to the
   bee subfamily  Halictidae ( hinting of their salt attraction),
   sweat bees are generally small (10-14 mm) solitary animals widely
   distributed across the world, forming  nests in the ground or
   sometimes rotting wood. Family members are variously colored, but many
   species have an iridescent metallic sheen. Important  natural
   pollinators, multiple sweat  bee generations live and die through
   the summer growing season in temperate climates. All males die before
   winter, but fall generation fertilized female sweat bees will
   overwinter in their burrows, producing the spring generation before
   passing on themselves, continuing the species though winter. This
   photograph shows a small metallic green sweat bee (probably a female
    Agapostemon sericeus) feeding on nectar and inadvertently
   collecting pollen on a  New England blue aster ( Symphyotrichum
   novae-angliae). It was taken on a warm fall day when New England asters
   are at the peak of their bloom and these tiny pollinators are fueling
   up for a long cold winter underground.

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    Salty Bees Fueling for Winter  Fuel for a Far-fetched Flight
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Animal Links

     *  Animal Diversity Web
     *  ARKive
     *  BirdLife International
     *  Bug Guide
     *  Discover Life
     *  Integrated Taxonomic Information System
     *  Microbial Life Resources
       Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the
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        Universities Space Research Association.

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