need photos of orchid pollinators, please!

[likespaphs]

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!

 

[Kavanaru]

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

 

[NYEric]

I thought you wanted a photo of DrOrchids!

 

[Drorchid]

I thought you wanted a photo of DrOrchids!

:rollhappy:

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

Robert

 

[mccallen]

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

Here's one cleaning his namesake tongue.

 

[goldenrose]

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.

 

[NYEric]

Beautiful photo mccallen.

 

[SlipperFan]

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

 

[mccallen]

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.

 

[likespaphs]

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!

 

[gonewild]

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.

 

[fibre]

Ohhh! Great pics, Lance!!

 

[Drorchid]

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

 

[nikv]

Lance,

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

Best Regards,
Nik

 

[SlipperFan]

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

 

[Kavanaru]

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)

 

[mccallen]

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.

 

[JeanLux]

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

 

[Kavanaru]

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...

 

[goldenrose]

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!