Take the Diversity of Bees over Oscar Fashion

Naomi Watts dressed as Augochlorella aurata

Last year, I really enjoyed bringing you the best in nudibranch Oscar fashion. So, I thought this year I might try the bees. After all, bees have tremendous diversity (unlike Oscar nominees), though you may only be able to name the honeybee (which isn't even native to North America) and the bumblebee (and there are in fact several different bumblebees). The ecological health of pollinators is of great concern, but it's isn't all about honeybees. In any region, the native bees are often the most important pollinators and few are familiar with their incredible variety. So enjoy the great beauty and astounding colours of these bees, glam enough for the red carpet. Maybe you'll recognize some from the nearest garden.

Learn more about bees of this part of the world at Resonating Bodies. Check out the great Bee Tribes of the World from York University for a sense of the staggering variation in bees. For a wonderful collection of photos of specimen, follow the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab on flickr.

You can also find my own artwork about the biodiversity of bees here and here. If you also make art about bees, let me know and check out this call for artists for an upcoming show about and for bees.

Alicia Vikander dressed as Xylocopa India, a yellow carpenter bee from India

Brie Larson dressed as Osmia chalybea

Rachel McAdams dressed as Augochlora buscki, a Puerto Rican bee

Charlize Theron's backless red dress mimics the female Centris errans from Bahamas

Cate Blanchet dressed as the very pretty, if not pleasant to other bees, nest parasite Thyreus wallacei of the Phillipines

Kerry Washington dressed as Isepeolus wagenknechti

Kate Winslet dressed as the all black leafcutter bee Megachile xylocopoides

Saoirse Ronan dressed as a small carpenter bee Ceratina mikmaqi