#Dufourea

[cnestus]

the most cartoon dad ass lookin' bee i've ever seen, a male Dufourea campanulae (Halictidae)

identifying bees, particularly ones collected in the western US where they're hyperdiverse and criminally understudied, really makes me feel like an old timey gumshoe detective. There's around 70 described species of Dufourea in the US, mostly in the west, and of course no comprehensive treatments or keys have been published, just dozens of 70-130 year old scientific monographs, mostly written by Theodore "Mr Too Many Damn Bees" Cockerell, that need to be individually looked up and compared almost line-by-line until you find one that fully matches the specimen.

here's the original description by Cockerell written in 1897 if you're curious:

[drhoz]

#2474 - Dufourea ligulata - Strap Flame Lichen 

Originally described as Physcia ligulata in 1862, transferred to Xanthoria in 1983, Jackelixia in 2009 and finally Dufourea in 2013 after researchers got a look at its genetics.

On top of a stone fence at the B&B in Hāwera - absolutely typical habitat for the species, which grows on coastal rocks.

[usgsbiml]

The Black #Dufourea.  D. maura.  A western Rockies species that sneaks up north and east above the Great Lakes.  This one landed on Isle Royale, Michigan.  Look at this bee, it is so mysterious looking.

[wynnejohnson]

Week 2: June 12-13 & 18- Ants and Pollinators

On Monday, June 12th, we worked at Mt. Auburn Cemetary collecting ants. We used two methods to do this- 1) We laid out bait for them in two test tubes, one with a cookie (roughly 1 cm) and the other with spam. We set up a site where we measured out 20 test tubes, placing one of each at each 16 1/4 feet (5 meters). At each interval, we labeled a flag and took measurements of our altitude, and coordinates. 

We took note of the percentage of ground cover at each site ( % of grass vs. gravestone or the ground) we also recorded the number of species of plants there were in each of quadrant (everything inside of the hula-hoop with the # flag standing in the middle. Lastly, we measured the length of the grass at all four sides of the quadrant. 

This information will tell us where the various species of ants that thrive and choose to make their homes there, as well as what species of plants they are drawn to or whether they prefer cement/ground. 

We collected the tubes from the flag sites. We then did additional collecting (hand-collecting) which was not on a rigid terrain. Instead, we set the timer for 20 minutes and picked which colonies we collected ants from as we walked through our transect (given area). I used an ant aspirator to suck up one ant from each site mound or site we decided upon.  

On Tuesday, June 13th, we reexamined the ants that we had collected the previous day. They were frozen overnight and no longer alive. At the lab at Lesley, we picked the ants off of the frozen spam and cookie in order to look at them under the microscope to identify how many morphospecies were in each tube.  

In my tubes, some had as many as 48 ants and as little as 0. I did not work with any tubes that contained more than one species. 

As we looked at the ants under the microscope we were able to begin the identification process by using an identification sheet and soft tweezers to examine the various parts of the body. 

We narrowed the species down by 

-Petiole: Does it have 1 or 2 segments?

- Acidopore: Present/ absent?

-Number of antennal segments

-Number of teeth (This was extremely hard to see unless the mouth was already open)

- We looked at the profile shape, the mandible shape, and the length of the antenna. 

Comparing what we were able to see from the specimens to the identification pictures, we were able to make an educated guess about the species of ants we had collected from the two transects we worked at in Mt. Auburn Cemetary. Finishing up, we placed the ants in alcohol until further identification can be done.  

There are 32 ant genera present in New England and I am interested in finish putting our numbers together this wee, to learn how many we were able to collect on this particular day. This collecting, however, will go on for many more months with much more in-depth identification. 

Switching to pollinators! 

On Sunday, June 18, I worked with Amy at Mt. Auburn Cemetary to collect data on pollinators- plant and bee identification. 

We used the same hula hoop to act as a measurement for our quadrant, placing it over a chosen area of ground with flowers present. I did this 4 times- twice near the tower (a highly elevated area of Mt. Auburn Cemetary) and twice down by the pond (a lower and more aquatic terrain.) 

I studied the details of the flowers in the quadrant and using the field guide on plant identification, was able to narrow most of the plants down to what I believed they were. 

I went down the list looking at:

- Leaf arrangement: Entire, Basal, alternate, opposite, Whorled

-Leaf margins- Bumpy, various levels of teeth

-Flower: Regular (symmetrical) or Irregular (asymmetrical) or indistinguishable 

-How many parts regular?

- Hair, the color of flowers etc.

The two flowers that I was able to Identify were: 

Quadrant 1- A White Beardtongue (White of purple-tinged ) Wildflower, like all in MAC 

Quadrant 2- A Hairy Arnica with basal 

Quadrant 3- What I believe to be some form of Iris: A Dwarf Iris (Blue) or a Crested Iris (Blue) 

Quadrant 4- Insufficient data  

Once the identification was done, a timer was set for 10 minutes and I used a large net to collect any bees that landed on the flowers in the quadrants. 

We then studied the details of the bees and were able to identify the type of bees they were. The most interesting part of this was to see the pollen sacs on the bee’s body, as I had never been able to study this part of the bee close up. The pollinator sacs on the bee that was most evident were on the sides of both of her legs.

Bees I was able to Identify: 

Quadrant 1- 1 Bee: Small honey bee

Quadrant 2- 1 Bee: Lasioglossum (Sweat bee) Named because they are drawn to sweat and will lick it off the skin

Quadrant 3: 1 Bee: Very, very, small. I was unable to catch it with the net. I believe it was a: Perdita (yellow) or Dufourea (although it seemed to be yellow, not black)

Ideally, the idea of studying the pollinators is to see what types of pollinator plants the bees are drawn to at Mt. Auburn Cemetary and how many species of bees that reside there. Potentially, with this research Mt. Auburn, and other urban environments, could use this information as they think about landscaping and which plants would be beneficial to the health and growth of the bee population.

Lastly: An Introduction to the Boston University Lab:

On Sunday night I learned how to read a white blood cell stain hemocytometer with help from Chris and Evan at the labs at B.U. 

We were looking at samples of the blood drawn from the bat colonies in Sherborn, Massachusetts last week. We looked at these samples using a white blood cell stain hemocytometer X100 and X400.

I watched how to draw up the blood and inject it into the slide- then we looked in the microscope and counted the number of white blood cells that were apparent in the blood streak. We labeled the numbers on the corresponding quadrants on the data sheet. 

Example sheet below: (2013, January). Retrieved June 19, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/235369979_fig2_Fig-2-Neubauer-hemocytometer-chamber-A-Nine-major-squares-A-100-magnification)ResearchGate

The blood was mixed with a purple solution to shrink the red blood cells so that only the white cells were visible. It is extremely important to be careful with this blood, as rabies can be fatal to humans. 

The intent of studying the WBC is to look at the immune system in these bats. A heightened white count is most of the time correlating to the body fighting an infection or disease. There are other signs in bats too, however, including the level of inflammation as well as the protein they create called a “complement” protein (used to fight off WNS), which is seen in the plasma. 

Working in the lab was one of my favorite sections we have worked on so far. It is so incredible to see these microscopic cells that are produced by the bats and what these numbers mean to the larger story of what is happening with their immune system influenced by White-nose Syndrome and an urban vs. rural environment. Will these variables make their immune system more depleted or will there not be any major change between the urban and rural habitats to their ability to fight off disease and reproduce?  

[mentorscotus]

I love this photo "The smallest bee. Dufourea Minuta..." at ViewBug.Please vote and share .Thank you k Most appreciated Find more inspiring images at ViewBug - the world’s most rewarding photo community. Photo by kathleenweetman

[usgsbiml]

Bee Balm Bee Balm Bee Balm Bee Balm.  Dufourea monardae. See this bee, it is small and only hangs out on Bee Balm.  Look. Look at its tongue.  That is a long tongue.  Look at Monarda fistulosa (this bee's fav, and perhaps only pollen plant).  Ah, those are long individual florets (or whatever the proper term is).  Now why are there hairs along the length, but the very tip is bare?  Other bees just have a brush, or seemingly none, or scattered hairs, or short hairs, ... pretty much all combinations.  Surely someone has looked at tongueitecture of the hairs on bees, but, sadly, I know little of bee tongues (but do have the belief that the hairs are used to "trap" nectar on the tongue).  Length of tongue is all over the bee literature and measuring and describing the palps (long topic) on the tongue is great sport among the old taxonomists.  But what about those hairs?  Bee collected by Ai Wen in Iowa and photo by Cole Cheng.      

[usgsbiml]

One of about 3 Monarda specialist in Eastern North America.  

This uncommon bee was collected in Wisconsin (Dufourea monardae), likely by Denny Johnson and photographed by Amber Reese.  

A northern species and not one we have had any experience collecting or observing.  That said, it could occur in Maryland if people spend more time collecting off of Bee Balm.

[mentorscotus]

I love this photo "The smallest bee. Dufourea Minuta..." at ViewBug.Please vote and share Thank you Find more inspiring images at ViewBug - the world’s most rewarding photo community. Photo by kathleenweetman