​The following illustrations have been resized from their originals to expedite quicker uploading for internet purposes. As such, there will be a drop in the picture or text quality. I hope that the posters will inspire or arouse the observer to reflect over matters that concern life and living.
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​The Picture Poster blog series have been separated into pictures with flowers, bees, birds, insects and others. Each blog post will contain about six to eight pictures in each series; and there will be more than a blog post for each section.

The Blue banded bee. Amegilla is a large genus of bees in the tribe Anthophorini. Several species have blue metallic bands on the abdomen, and are referred to as “blue-banded bees”. Wikipedia. Blue-banded bees can sting, but are not as aggressive as other bees. They appear to be more rapid in movement than other bees. The male bee has five colored stripes, while the female has four, which look slightly faded in comparison to the male’s bright bands of color. The males cling to plant stems during the night. The blue banded bee is a buzz pollinator, meaning it shakes its flight muscles to free pollen from flowers. Buzz pollinators are needed to obtain pollen from flowers, such as tomato flowers, that store the pollen in a capsule. When the blue banded bee shakes the flower, the capsule opens, coating the bee in pollen. The bee uses the pollen when she builds her nest, but some of it drops off when she visits the next flower and helps pollinate that flower. Picture taken Sept.26th 2018.Holland Grove Park.

The Blue Banded bee (Amegilla andrewsi) approaching the Red Tree vine, (Leea Rubra). This a semi-woody shrub up to 3 m tall. Its alternate, stalked, 2-4 pinnate leaves are 30-60 cm long, with many leaflets. Flowers: Its flowering shoots are compact and 4-16 cm long. Flowers are bright red in colour with a yellow central disc. It fruits are subglobose berries, turning dark red or purple when ripe, 6-seeded, 7-10 mm wide. Leaves are used as a poultice to treat wounds. The roots are used for reducing fevers and inducing perspiration and for treating arthritis, rheumatism and stomachaches. It is also mixed with arsenic to treat yaws. Fruits are also consumed to treat dysentery and yaws.

July 24th 2018.
A male Xylocopa aestuans (Carpenter bee) approaching the Caesalpinia pulcherrima flower in my garden. A study of the bee in flight.

This picture was posted earlier on by me in FB. I made a poster of it using one of my favourite poems I learnt in childhood.
Amegilla andrewsi (Blue-banded bees) visiting Memecylon caeruleum.
The blue-banded bees are so called because their abdomens are striped with brilliant blue or blue-green on black.
From around 9 mm to 14 mm in body length. They are mainly dark brown, grey or black, often with yellowish or orange-brown hairs covering the thorax. The black abdomen generally has four or five blue bands. The bee is small and usually fast-flying, but these bands can be easily noticed.

Holland Grove area, May 18th 2018. Potter Wasp. Rhynchium haemorrhoidale. One of the stout bodied potter wasp without a long petiole (waist).Likes to nest in cavities in natural surroundings, but will also build nests in an exposed setting in and around buildings.

May 24th 2018. Apis cerana. Apis cerana, or the eastern honey bee, is a species of honey bee found in southern and southeastern Asia, including China, Pakistan, India, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Australia. Wikipedia. ​Males of Apis cerana are called drones. Each colony produces significantly fewer drones than they do workers. Drones have large eyes that meet at the top of their head, no stinger, and their abdomen is thick and blunt at the end. This gives the drones more of a blunt-ended body rather than the pointed, aerodynamic body shape that is seen in the female castes.

Spotted trying to get out of my glass window. Holland Road area. June 22nd 2018. Nomia strigata female. Nomia strigata appears blue green in flight due to its apical intertegumental coloured bands on its abdomen that have an iridescent colouration. The Pearly-banded Bee (Nomia strigata) builds its nests in the soil. This colourful species is especially common in secondary forests, such as those in Macritchie Reservoir Nature Park.

The genus Amegilla (currently classified under family Apidae, subfamily Apinae, tribe Anthoporini) are small to medium-sized, robust bees, common throughout the Asia-Pacific region from China all the way to Australia. There are many different species in this genus, but one group worth mentioning are the blue-banded bees, so called because their abdomens are striped with brilliant blue or blue-green on black. These bees are quite common throughout much of their range, and can even be found in urban areas. They are frequently seen at flowers, collecting nectar and pollen. They have a unique way of collecting pollen; they cling to the flower and buzz sharply, causing the pollen to be displaced by the vibration and sticking to them. (Besides these bees, only the bumblebees and possibly the large carpenter bees are capable of doing this). Their long tongues can also reach into deep flowers. They are important pollinators of many different plants, including some tropical fruit such as rambutan (personal observation; a rambutan tree outside a friend’s house in Singapore was visited mainly by blue-banded bees a couple of weeks before the tree started fruiting). They fly fast and frequently hover, pausing before entering a flower.