# need photos of orchid pollinators, please!



## likespaphs (Mar 11, 2010)

hi. 
can anyone help me find photos of the stingless bees that pollinate vanilla? at the boston flower show, many of the new england orchid societies get together and have a display at the boston flower show and we need a couple photos for that. 
if you can direct me somewhere to find photos or even the names of some species that actually pollinate (i can only find "small bees of the genus Melipona" and "Euglossine bee"), i'd truly appreciate it.
thanks!


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## Kavanaru (Mar 11, 2010)

So far I can remember, Vanilla is pollinated by Melipona bees and not by Euglossinae.. Meliponas are also stingless neotropical bees, wich look more like Apis mellifera (Euglossinae are normally very bright collored - this are the typical pollinators for most Catasetum species) you can check for Melipona Bees in google and/or Flickr


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## NYEric (Mar 11, 2010)

I thought you wanted a photo of DrOrchids!


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## Drorchid (Mar 11, 2010)

NYEric said:


> I thought you wanted a photo of DrOrchids!


:rollhappy:

Let me know if you need my picture (with a toothpick in my hand)!

Robert


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## mccallen (Mar 11, 2010)

I have some cool pictures of _Euglossa_ spp. mostly probably _villosa_ that I took in Veracruz, Mexico.

Here's one cleaning his namesake tongue.


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## goldenrose (Mar 11, 2010)

That guy at the Smithsonian, he gave a presentation a couple months ago at club ....... Tom ___________, I think, I'll see if I can't get the whole name, I'll bet he'll have a pic.


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## NYEric (Mar 11, 2010)

Beautiful photo mccallen.


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## SlipperFan (Mar 11, 2010)

How about a cricket pollinator:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/pollinating-cricket-adaptation.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100112085514.htm


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## mccallen (Mar 12, 2010)

NYEric said:


> Beautiful photo mccallen.



Thank you!

These bees are really quite something. There are blue and purple metallic ones as well and they come in a range of different shapes and sizes. All you have to do to attract them is hang up a strip of paper with a little clove, rosemary or eucalyptus oil and they come out of the woodwork...if you're in a neotropical rainforest, that is.


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## likespaphs (Mar 12, 2010)

wow. that really is fantastic!
thanks!
i'm asking the person coordinating the booth to take a look at the photo and then i may ask if we may use it....
thanks everyone!


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## gonewild (Mar 12, 2010)

Here are some I shot back when digital cameras were not so good.
I don't know what kind of bees they are and the orchids are not vanilla but the act of pollination is in process.


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## fibre (Mar 12, 2010)

Ohhh! Great pics, Lance!!


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## Drorchid (Mar 12, 2010)

Those are amazing! If you say you took those with a digital camera that was not so good, I wonder how even more amazing they will be with a newer camera. Thanks for sharing!

By the way those bees are even more colorful than the orchids they are pollinating. I never knew bees could be that colorful!

Robert


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## nikv (Mar 12, 2010)

Lance, 

Those are some incredibly detailed photos considering they were taken with an older model digital camera! They are amazing!

Best Regards,
Nik


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## SlipperFan (Mar 12, 2010)

No apologies needed for those photos, Lance. Good job!


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## Kavanaru (Mar 12, 2010)

WOW!Lance, those photos are fantastic! 

the first two bees (pics 1 to 6) are Euglossinae bees and the last one (visiting Catasetum longifolium) is a Xilocopinae (most probably in the family Anthophoridae - but not 100% sure of this)

an interesting thing about Euglossinae, is that normally only teh males are known (these are the ones atracted to the orchids and to the traps with essential oils) Males are normally very colorfull ranging from green to blues and purples (metallic look all the time). Females are less known, theyr are not atracted to the same fragrances and often are described as different species (they normally do not have same colors as the males)


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## mccallen (Mar 12, 2010)

Kavanaru said:


> WOW!Lance, those photos are fantastic!
> 
> the first two bees (pics 1 to 6) are Euglossinae bees and the last one (visiting Catasetum longifolium) is a Xilocopinae (most probably in the family Anthophoridae - but not 100% sure of this)



Depending on where these pictures were taken, it's likely that the last two photos are _Eulaema bombiformis _ which is still in the same tribe as the smaller, brighter _Euglossa_, despite differences in appearance.


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## JeanLux (Mar 13, 2010)

Bravo Lance :clap::clap::clap::clap: Jean


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## Kavanaru (Mar 13, 2010)

mccallen said:


> Depending on where these pictures were taken, it's likely that the last two photos are _Eulaema bombiformis _ which is still in the same tribe as the smaller, brighter _Euglossa_, despite differences in appearance.



yeap! you are right... I had completely forgotten the Eulaemas...


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## goldenrose (Mar 15, 2010)

goldenrose said:


> That guy at the Smithsonian, he gave a presentation a couple months ago at club ....... Tom ___________, I think, I'll see if I can't get the whole name, I'll bet he'll have a pic.


It's Tom Mirenda! He has articles every month in AOS, his email is published there.

The photos are fantastic Lance!


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