The Sun is out & so are many bees & drone flies, but there's not a lot to eat yet 🌞
So the western honey bees (Apis mellifera; 🇩🇪 Westliche Honigbiene) are clustering around the dandelions & tulips, though the few other flowers out only offer slimmer pickings thus far.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
It's not only the bees that are searching for food, mind you – this small gnat seems to have been out foraging too.
It's a wood gnat, genus Sylvicola, & from the shape of its head & eyes, along with the three-stripe pattern on its thorax, my best guess would be S. fuscatus 🦟
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
And with its mind on different business, perhaps, I saw this little ant running around.
It was tiny, around 2mm long, & hard to capture photos of, but the most likely ID is Temnothorax unifasciatus, in the Myrmicinae sub-family.
They exhibit altruistic behaviour, withdrawing from the colony when close to death, to avoid infecting other its relatives.
#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲
Mark McCaughrean
S.P.Zeidler