This morning I ran back out to the La Puerta tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR to see if I could get better photos of the Exomalopsis birkmanni. The poor ones I had gotten a few days ago were a first for iNaturalist for this tiny long-horned bee. But the patch of white brush where I found them was about bloomed out and there wasn't much going one. On the other hand, the Texas Lantana and Cenizo were blooming like crazy so there had to something out there. Well I didn't see much but quality is better than quantity. My first Gold-spotted Aguna for the year was a real surprise. Glassberg has then catagorized as rare but I see one most years.
The same patch of lantana held a Coyote Cloudywing. Nick Grishin's crew has moved the taxon into the genus Cecropterus and now considers the taxon as a subspecies of Skinner's Cloudywing, Cecropterus albociliatus Ugh. Not a popular decision for many of the old timers but it probably makes sense.
Cenizo, romantically refered to as Purple Sage, is the host plant for Theona Checkerspot. I bet we have a lot of them in a few weeks.
These copulating Bombus bee flies were interesting.
Several Heartleaf Hibiscus were blooming but I rarely see pollinators on them.
Here's the tiny Exomalopsis birkmanni as identified by Paula Cole, author of Wild Bees of the National Butterfly Center. I don't think they are very rare.
