Invertebrate / Hymenoptera / Bees, wasps, and ants

Long-horned bee Eucera longicornis illustrated for South Devon National landscape

Ivy bee Colletes hederae illustrated for South Devon National landscape

Broken-belted male bumblebee in flight.  Illustration for Swedish packaging company

Red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius worker showing orange abdominal segments

Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris, showing species-specific long hairs.  These reach up to and beyond the eyes.

Slave making or Blood red wood ant Formica sanguinea.  These wood ants are far redder than the other wood ant species.

Worker ant F. aquilonia Scottish wood ant, in profile.  Workers are all haplodiploid, sharing much of their genetic material with their mother, the queen. This supports their eusocial colonies.

Sabre wasp Rhyssa persuasoria using her long ovipositor to lay an egg with her long terminal cerci pointing upwards

White tailed bumble bee Bombus lucorum life cycle showing adult feeding, underground nest, feeding on thistle, feeding on foxglove, egg, emerging from egg,

Honey bee Apis mellifera detailed illustration of the worker

White tailed bumble bee Bombus lucorum showing fluffy hairs and stripes, wings outstretched, cut to white

Polka dot wasp Syntomeida epilais completed for UKOTCF Montserrat

Bottle bee Melipona lautipes completed for UKOTCF Montserrat

Caribbean paper wasp Polistes crinitus completed for UKOTCF Montserrat

Caribbean scoliid wasp Dielis dorsata female completed for UKOTCF Montserrat

Brown-banded carder bee Bombus humilus illustrated for South Devon Living landscape

From the series of Animals of Montserrat colouring-in illustrations commissioned by UKOTCF

From the series of Animals of Montserrat colouring-in illustrations commissioned by UKOTCF

Broken-belted bumble bee Bombus soroeensis, showing the bumble bee in flight, male bee

Oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare & buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris

Cornflowers Centaurea cyanus in a meadow with Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius

Wasps and bees hibernating in cracks in an old wall, showing common UK bee and social wasp species in the mortar of a church wall

Garden bumblebee cut to white showing markings and shaggy long hair

Orchid bee Euglossa cybelia with Cycnoches guttulatum orchid.  Illustration from “The Hidden Universe” by Alexandre Antonelli