Photos that show how *tiny* the creature is

[broacher]

Last week, I was waiting at a bus stop and I had my Olympus TG with me. I walked a little 30 foot loop from the stop to a striped ‘Curve Ahead’ sign that had those retroreflecrive stripes on it. Then I saw something tiny, and goldish make a little move along an edge.

I maxed the micro-zoom and gently snuck in and managed to get this shot before it flew off.

Nope, not that great a shot but it was so small I started to wonder if I had captured my first Fairy Wasp!

Another, less zoomed-in shot that I took as I approached, clearly shows the reflectors in a grid and the wasp as well. The next step will be to return to that sign with my microscope grid card and hold it against a stripe for a measurement.

I looked up the grid range for these strips, and if it is within the range commonly used for roadsigns, I might be within Fairy Wasp range, and if not – a micro wasp in any case.

[antsbyleo]

Pseudomyrmex pallidus is incredibly small:

[lmtaylor]

I think the little bee above the honey bee is a Hylaeus

[pepperjackb]

original.jpg

[truman-dodson]

Myrmica getting attacked by what I think is either Lasius or Formica.

[antsbyleo]

Looks like Formica to me.

[spiphany]

More likely a sweat bee male, I would say (long antennae)

If the CV suggested Hylaeus, this was probably because its training set does not include many images of small dark bees without obvious distinguishing features.