The Littler You Go, the Less You Know

Actually, the littler you go, the less you know is not always true. The fact is, the common saying, the littler you go, the less you know, may only apply to Hymenoptera. Then too, the saying may not be all that common. Crumby may be the only one that uses the expression, the littler you go the less you know.

Yet here is an example of what Crumby is preaching thereof. OK. The excuse for purchasing about the best, arguably, macro lens available to 4/3s cameras is so a person like Crumby, with his E 330, may get to take pictures of rather small insects. That’s right, the littler insects. However, the smaller the insects are, generally speaking, the less likely it is that anyone has ever paid much attention to them unless they are incredible nuisances, like midges. And even with midges, the likeliest information on midges is not specifically descriptive. Oh, maybe one midge has been studied intensively, in Latvia, and everyone generalizes from that midge. Yes. Individual midges are lumped together, stereotyped, given short shrift, discriminated against, type cast, ignored by all the trendy boys, etc.

So that’s why the littler insects in combination with a really good macro lens can suck the life out of an amateur naturalist. Yes. The life may be sucked out as if by vampires or giant mosquitoes. Well not exactly. But what can happen is that the average amateur naturalist may spend way to much time fixing to figure out what’s what with a bunch of miserable tiny insects. Like Crumby, for example, could easily become obsessed, because, the littler you go, the less you know.

Check out this littler Hymenopteran. It’s about 9mm stem to stern. Looks like a decent picture. But all the stuff you need to figure out what the dingus is, is missing, like, first segment of hind tarsus, and venation of the hind wing. Plus you can’t even make out if the hairs are simple. Mercy!

Yet, when all else fails, the determined may compare pictures, relying on that grace sometimes conferred by the Goddess of Random Chance (RC). Goddess RC is not to be confused with the delicious cola, RC. Be that as it may, Crumby started espying pictures of bee genera in the subfamiliy Megachilinae as identified on the Apoidea of Brackenridge Field Laboratory, a handy resource. The first genera on the list is Anthidiellum. The last genera is Stelis. Turns out, the depicted above is Stelis, possibly Stelis sp. A. Huh-huh. So it's not a wasp. No. It is a cleptoparasitic bee. Goodness!

Now check this out. This little fucker is a little smaller than the other one, around 6mm. But this one is probably Anthidiellum notatum. So that's it. Thanks to Goddess RC, the first and last genera of the Megachilinae have probably been confirmed as occurring at the CB. Shitfire! I'd rather have the Goddess RC rubbing herself on my saddle pommel, than get pork chops and collards every night.