Posts Tagged: longhorn bee

The Bee and the Tiger

Talk about a butterfly ballet... A large Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, with a wingspan of about four inches, flutters into the Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden and lands on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). It proceeds to nectar, unaware...

A male longhorn bee, probably a Melisoddes agilis, targets a Western tiger swallowtail nectaring on Tithonia in Vacavile, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male longhorn bee, probably a Melisoddes agilis, targets a Western tiger swallowtail nectaring on Tithonia in Vacavile, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Butterfly ballet--The startled Western tiger swallowtail takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Butterfly ballet--The startled Western tiger swallowtail takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Western tiger swallowtail, interrupted by a male territorial longhorn bee, decides the Mexican sunflower is not "big enough for both of us." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Western tiger swallowtail, interrupted by a male territorial longhorn bee, decides the Mexican sunflower is not "big enough for both of us." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Persistent Western tiger swallowtail selects another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Persistent Western tiger swallowtail selects another blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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