Specialist-forager
Guides
Dufourea novaeangliae
Pickerelweed Shortface
Dufourea novaeangliae is a solitary bee in the family Halictidae, commonly known as the Pickerelweed Shortface. It is an oligolectic (specialist) pollinator exclusively associated with pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), a semi-aquatic plant. The species occurs in north-eastern and north-central North America, with confirmed records from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Vermont. It is phylogenetically distant from honey bees and possesses the smallest odorant receptor repertoire (112 ORs) among fully sequenced bee genomes.
Neaphaenops tellkampfi tellkampfi
Neaphaenops tellkampfi tellkampfi is a troglobitic ground beetle that inhabits deep sandy cave environments. This subspecies reaches high population densities where cricket eggs represent the sole viable prey resource. Laboratory studies demonstrate specialized foraging behavior involving excavation of substrate to locate buried eggs, with greater foraging efficiency than the related subspecies N. t. meridionalis.