What was Monday’s orange fur? It was the rear end of a bumble bee:
Bombus bifarius, abdomen
Our winner for the week is, of course, bee biologist Polly Nator, to whom I’ll award 8 points for picking the structure, family, genus, and just missing the species by guessing its nearly-identical sister B. ternarius. I am also awarding 2 LOL points to Sara, who bravely ventured that it might, in fact, have been Big Bird.
Polly Nator is also our monthly winner, edging out Morgan Jackson’s 7 points from earlier in the month. Polly- email me for your loot!
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Alex, I had wondered why you were into roller derby, but now I realize it’s a Midwestern entomologist thing.