Oxytrigona mellicolor, f, face, San Jose, Costa Rica
The FIRE BEE. What a great name the unwashed beenighted (get it?) masses have beestowed ( 😉 ) on the 11 or so species in the genus Oxytrigona (one always has to use "or so" when talking about the number of bees in a genus because species counts are constantly getting sluiced around by taxonomists who chronically find new species, combine existing species, redefine genera, or just shuffle genus membership around, if they weren't doing this they would simply be out of a job. The world does not tolerate nor will ever honor a taxonomist who basically says "everything's cool here, those other taxonomists did a great job and got it right"). hmmm, this is clearly going to get long for a simple multimedia post....So, the Fire Bee Genus belongs to the pan tropical social club of stingless bees. I don't have to use quotes around the world "stingless" in the previous sentence (though I think I need to in this sentence, but could be wrong about that) because these bees don't actually have a sting...not even a little one. But, that doesn't mean they are a bunch of liberal, peace and love cream puffs, no sir, they are loaded with formic acid and despite being super tiny (as you can see by how they are pinned using minuten pins) they can bite you, spit their formic acid into that cut and blister you up but good. And. They go for the eyes, ears, lips and nose, in particular, where they also buzz and tickle in the most horrendous of ways (think about what having a tiny buzzy bee flying around and biting you inside your nose for just a moment while you sit in your comfy chair). This little gal was collected by the brace Tim McMahon in Costa Rica, where for sure he has some sort of story about that event. Anders Croft took this shot.
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde. Original public domain image from Flickr